So, I've been thinking about a little Source or Unreal project. I probably won't actually make it, but it's a fun idea to think about, and if there's enough interest it might even make for a nice group project.
I'd appreciate feedback or ideas. He's just a layout of my current thoughts.
Influence A: Jurassic Park
I've recently been getting back into Jurassic Park, on account of finally getting a hold on the novels. Jurassic Park is a study of chaos theory and complex systems, and how they can defeated by the innumerable minor variables we can't know enough about to make accurate predictions about, or by external and unrelated influencers that completely turn the system on its head. It also talks about arrogance of the creators and how not understanding the source breeds ignorance that leads to fatal mistakes. While most people appreciate JP for the dinosaurs, I really love the deeper meaning, and I feel it'd be perfect for a video game.
Influence B: Logical Deduction In Games
One of my big points of game design is that there is an important distinction between "sandbox" (the world and all the pieces inside it, as well as the rules that dictate how they behaviour and interact with other elements in the sandbox) and "game layer" (a goal and set of rules that define what the victory conditions are and how a player must go about to achieve them), and it annoys me how not enough games make use of these distinct components.
Consider the fact that in most games, you are told what you need to do. You're given a set of step by step instructions to follow, and what you're tested on is your physical ability to perform a chain of commands that are required to proceed. In these games, the sandbox and game layer are not distinct concepts, and the elements of the sandbox are often scripted to behave according to what the game wants to teach the player to physically achieve at any point.
That's fine, but as somebody who enjoys leadership and planning (but not in the style of modern RTS/TBS games), I want to have more ability to explore more roleplay-levels of decision making based on a dynamically changing environment.
What if there was a game where you're presented with a scenario, and you had to overcome it?
My theory involves a multiplayer game in which there is a well developed sandbox full of elements which all have deep rules on their interactions with all other elements, but none of those elements have any understanding or relation to the higher level game layer, and can operate independently of a higher power (like a GameManager object). Instead, the Game Layer serves to give context to why the players should persist in the world, and validate when they've overcome the chosen critical challenge.
Game Idea
I'm imagining a multiplayer 3D First-Person survival horror game for the PC, using local hosted dedicated servers.
What if there was a facility where scientists had finally created some big new prototype of something. Maybe it's genetic hybrids or automatons for warfare. Some kind of product which demonstrates wilful ignorance on the behest of the creators who played with science, not understanding the greater implications. The facility is open to a small tour of important VIPs, there to inspect the product to judge its viability.
The players take on the role of either the CEO, members of the Security team, the facility's Engineer/Admin staff in control of systems, the VIPs who've come on the tour, a Saboteur who initiates the game proper, or the Prime Experiment who serves as the main antagonist and drives most of the in-world events (like the T-Rex and Raptors from Jurassic Park). Each has their own goals and rules that dictate what behaviours they have, and any roles not filled in will be controlled by an AI system.
The beginning of the tour is scripted, and starts normally. Cracks begin to appear according to imperfections in the AI's coding which nobody could have accounted for (chaos theory in action). At some point, the Saboteur will be pressured into triggering the game by sabotaging the facility's systems, allowing all of the elements in the sandbox to exhibit their behaviours without limitation (including the players). From this point forward, the game is dictated simply by the ever-changing variables that players cannot predict, but must try to adapt to.
The goal is to have an atmosphere much like the Jurassic Park movies; players must work together to achieve their own individual goals, figuring out what is available to them in the sandbox and what issues they must negate (for example, the power might go out, and so players will need to figure out and plan how to turn it back on). The game never gives any more than the most basic core goal that determines if a player wins or not (for example, the tourists might have "Escape", while the CEO might have "Capture the Experiment"). The intent is to not be an Evolve or Trouble in Terrorist Town style deathmatch, but actually encourage roleplays that last for hours, with players diving into the atmosphere of the world.
Ideally, the longer the world is left to its own devices, the larger the cascade failure; more systems will begin to fail and bigger problems will appear. It encourages more tension, and success feels greater as the odds are continually stacked against the players.
