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Game concepts, mechanics, you wish were explored more.

C

Cameron122

Member
I recently made a thread about I was befuddled no one has made an open world RTS. That got me thinking about concepts you see in games, but you wish you saw more of. Now folk have their respective feelings about cover systems and regenerating health. Those sorts of things have been all the rage this generation. What are the things you would like to see explored more next generation, that perhaps, have been forgotten for a generation or two? I'll elaborate with some examples.

Real Time Strategy with Direct Control.

Now, you might say, NT122, get the fuck outta here, you point and you click, you're directly controlling your soldiers. This ain't Majesty, this ain't Black and White

and I say to you, this is what I'm talking about
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I want more fully featured Real time tactics games where I control my favorite soldier or hero unit and wreck house. It's not always e-sports balanced, but I think it's damn fun. I want to see more games with this mechanic.

Anything you'd like to see in the next few years GAF?
 
S

scorpscarx

Member
More realistic flight mechanics or at least the feel of flight and lift in parts of games. Even in a dumbed down way such as PilotWings 64.
 
S

scorpscarx

Member
NT122 said:
This interests me as well. Has ARMA III mentioned anything about it?
Click to expand...

The only thing I can find is this quote by a dev that says the Take on Helicopters flight model will be in ARMA 3.

"Take On helicopter flighmodel WILL BE also in Arma3. Now I can safely confirm it will be also in campaing and it will be DEFAULT flightmodel for ALL the helicopters."

This thread has a lot in it, but I'm not sure how that applies to anything other than helicopters, lol.

Honestly I don't follow the game much, but that's something at least.

Here's another thread about the flight: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?145428-Curious-about-airplanes-and-helicopters
 
D

Danneee

Member
Real world based fantasy sports. Like mutant league hockey.

And, yes, battle zone 1 & 2 are awesome! Loved the setting, story and feeling of the first better though.
 
R

Retro

Member
Setting the tone of the game via gameplay mechanics and meta-mechanics.

For example, Eternal Darkness conveyed the insanity of the player characters by having weird shit actually happen to the player. It started with just the camera shifting around, but escalated to things like your character suddenly dying, bugs running across the screen, your game crashing and restarting...

Likewise, Psycho Mantis' fight in Metal Gear Solid; he displays his abilities by reading the memory card to find out what games you've played and then commenting on them, or vibrating the controller with the power of his mind. During the fight itself, he predicts all of your moves, making it exceptionally difficult. This can be countered by using the second controller port, which he is unable to read.

I'd like to see level design, gameplay mechanics and the like that can convey emotion, story or tone without having to tell you point blank. If the enemy you're fighting is deceptive, the level preceding him should be full of deceptive gameplay mechanics (invisible platforms, illusions, enemies that appear to be dangerous but aren't, etc.)
 
M

Moobabe

Member
No fail states should be explored more. Arbitrary "Oh no you got seen and now the mission is over forever" moments are lazy and completely immersion breaking.
 
S

scar tissue

Banned
Zelda-like games.
Apart from Darksiders, there's nothing on consoles even remotely like it - that I know of.

I'd like to see a game which is a TPS with a cover system (think Uncharted/Gears) with some melee elements, but with the overarching theme of dungeons and battling bosses and finding new items in them that unlock new paths in those dungeons.
Darksiders already had handguns, but the shooting system was pretty much crap.
 
B

BrokenEchelon

Banned
ss_45b7244cd34b97ed08adde4fc462304f137891d1.1920x1080.jpg
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The concept of destructible landscapes which actually force you to change your plan of attack.

Destructible buildings are a great start in stuff like Red Faction and Battlefield, but it would be incredibly interesting to see landscape alterations in an AAA game and not just Worms and that Ubisoft (or Lucasasrts?) game....Fracture? Where you had the gun that changed the height of the ground you shot.
 
T

Twinduct

Member
The amount of time I use to play Battlezone 2 MP alone :/

Wasn't there a game similar called dangerous waters or something like that?
 
F

Fandangox

Member
Boost system of F-Zero games that makes the boost come right out of your health bar, making you think of whether to use boosts to catch up, risk getting your machine destroyed, etc.
 
U

UnluckyKate

Member
Carrier Command 2012 ? Rts based on a giant carrier you upgrade and it can deploy units. You play these unit manually. Like the tank you deplay or the attack helicraft
 
Glass Rebel

Glass Rebel

Member
Mobility in first person games. I thought that Mirror's Edge would maybe start some kind of revolution but so far most FPS really haven't explored it.
 
F

FrontalMonk

Banned
Blocking/reversals in beat 'em up games. The first time I ever saw something like it, and the gold standard I always look up to, is the way it was done in Super Double Dragon. Press a button to block, and it blocks a kick. If they punched, you catch their arm and can follow up with punches, kicks, or if you hit the jump button you threw them over your shoulder. It was a simple, clean, elegant mechanic that really added a lot of depth to an otherwise tired genre.
 
B

Bombadil

Banned
Tactical dismemberment or being able to injure the enemy in a way that affects their movements. If I hit them in the head, they should get dizzy or get knocked out much more easily than if I hit them in the leg. If I hit them in the leg, I want them to limp.

Also, more logic puzzles. FAR MORE LOGIC PUZZLES!

I want to play a game that constantly changes up the gameplay before things get stale. Yes, some people will be turned off by this, but I suspect many people would love a game with evolving mechanics.

More color themes for game levels. Like a well-crafted Korean film, there needs to be the yellow scene, the red scene, the green scene, the blue scene, and so on.
 
D

destrudo

Member
I want a really good classic style Final Fantasy game with the fighting mechanics of Dragon's Dogma. I know there's things like Star Ocean and the Tales of series, but I as much as I enjoyed the battles in those I found everything else pretty bland. If anything, I would like more of those styles of games. Mainly because I love old Japanese RPGs, but I find the turn based battles kind of tedious now.
 
C

Cameron122

Member
destrudo said:
I want a really good classic style Final Fantasy game with the fighting mechanics of Dragon's Dogma. I know there's things like Star Ocean and the Tales of series, but I as much as I enjoyed the battles in those I found everything else pretty bland. If anything, I would like more of those styles of games. Mainly because I love old Japanese RPGs, but I find the turn based battles kind of tedious now.
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OooOOoooO I'd love this!

So I got another thing I want to see more of y'all.
Mech(a) Customization
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I

Into

Member
"Frag" esque FPS games like Quake and Unreal. We just do not see these types of games anymore that are very fast, and mostly focus on 1 on 1, Deathmatch and CTF.

I also miss the tank controls survival horror games, making you feel limited in a creepy world was a core design behind the original Silent Hill and Resident Evil games, if you wanted to dance around and kill dudes all over the place then you had ample games to play instead. These days most "survival horror" games are just action games with a horror paint job.

Pre rendered backgrounds, i loved them. For Resident Evil games it gave them weird and often deranged camera angles, you felt like you were being watched by someone at all times

For the JPRGs it gave them a great level of detail and a pretty unique look. Some just dismiss them as .jpeg put in a game, but i really loved how they were almost like paintings that the characters was walking around in.
 
C

Cameron122

Member
Into said:
"Frag" esque FPS games like Quake and Unreal. We just do not see these types of games anymore that are very fast, and mostly focus on 1 on 1, Deathmatch and CTF.

I also miss the tank controls survival horror games, making you feel limited in a creepy world was a core design behind the original Silent Hill and Resident Evil games, if you wanted to dance around and kill dudes all over the place then you had ample games to play instead. These days most "survival horror" games are just action games with a horror paint job.

Pre rendered backgrounds, i loved them. For Resident Evil games it gave them weird and often deranged camera angles, you felt like you were being watched by someone at all times

For the JPRGs it gave them a great level of detail and a pretty unique look. Some just dismiss them as .jpeg put in a game, but i really loved how they were almost like paintings that the characters was walking around in.
Click to expand...

This is a most glorious post.
 
HYDE

HYDE

Banned
I want games to use more Wall Running... like Ninja Gaiden or Prince of Persia. God of War III showed it in teaser trailers, but it came to the game differently. Metal Gear Revengeance has also teased it in their trailers...hopefully it makes it into the final game.

Also almost forgot...Mirrors Edge.
 
S

Spring-Loaded

Member
Enemies surrendering/fleeing after being disarmed/overpowered/caught off-guard

Being able to knock out enemies and have that directly affect the game's story/development.

Open world rollerblading/skateboard with an objective, a la Jet Set Radio
 
U

User 73706

Banned
Parkour-style map movement in a FPS that also equally utilizes good gunplay. Basically Mirror's Edge meets Quake meets Halo.

A "Skylanders"-style approach to certain franchises could be incredibly refreshing (and rewarding for the companies). Can you imagine if Pokemon's world was completely integrated? TCG cards having AR codes for the 3DS mainline game, mainline game duos having one game on the Wii U and the other on the 3DS, and so on.

Also, give us a full-fledged item crafting mechanic in Pokemon. Minecraft meets Borderlands 2 meets Dead Space 3. We already have a shitload of potential ingredients and given the universe there's all the potential in the world to make ridiculous witch's brews whose recipes could be passed to friends and so on.
 
M

Mama Robotnik

Member
Real-time plane shifting and parallel realities.

2RQPKXv.jpg


Soul Reaver (yeah I know, I'm mentioning it again) had this awesome concept that there were two parallel worlds - the living material realm and the dead spectral realm. The main character would shift from one to the other in real-time, the world distorting around him.

The material realm was all decayed architecture and faded browns and greys. The spectral realm was a distorted blue and green version of this, with pillars and walls contorting during the transition, cracks expanding to passageways, walls transforming to stairs, and outcrops turning into bridges. Rivers, lakes and all water bodies were locked into the material realm, turning a pond for example into a deep explorable spectral pit. Torrential subterranean rivers in material would become explorable caves in spectral.

In story terms, statues, murals and art from the material realm would always reveal an innate truth when viewed in the spectral realm. Murals of human warriors - who would later become vampires - showed fangs when viewed in spectral. Stained glass windows depicting a romantacised historical event in material - would creepily show the dark truth when viewed in spectral. Altars to divination, would show the demonic undercurrents beneath the religious veil.

Time also froze when entering spectral, allowing the hero to enter the realm in battle, and re-emerge in material behind his adversary.

The series neglected to explore this absolutely brilliant concept in the sequels, unfortunately. A shame as it was so expertly done, with the visible transition between the realities making the experience far more immediate than even Metroid Prime 2 and Link to the Past.
 
J

JoeyJungle

Banned
I really wish there were more games set pre-WWI. Aside from strategy games (like the total war series, paradox games), the only games I can think of that take place before then are Jordan Mechner's games and the AssCreed series. Most other games seem to think history started at 1942.

I mean, how awesome would be to play a game where you're a Dutch shipbuilder living in Russia during the reign of Peter the Great? Or a game where you're a noble during the French Revolution? Ugh, I want it. I have no idea what the mechanics would be, but that's such a rich setting that I don't care.
 
I

ii Stryker

Banned
Consequences to your actions and decisions with regard to story and how the game world treats and perceives you.

Alpha Protocol and Fallout New Vegas have done it best this gen, Mass Effect was good as well, but more of this next gen. I like the feeling that I'm impacting the game world and my decisions and action matter.
 
U

ultron87

Member
God, Battlezone was so sweet.

Danneee said:
Real world based fantasy sports. Like mutant league hockey.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see more fictional sports-type games too. Especially ones where each player on a team is controlled by a player.

Grifball in Halo is a good example of what I'd like to see more of. In the end it is a sort of Rugby variant, but it has enough unique concepts that it become something else. Bombing Run in Unreal Tournament is another example, though I'd rather such games didn't have shooting each other as the main interaction.
 
C

Cameron122

Member
Mama Robotnik said:
Real-time plane shifting and parallel realities.

2RQPKXv.jpg


Soul Reaver (yeah I know, I'm mentioning it again) had this awesome concept that there were two parallel worlds - the living material realm and the dead spectral realm. The main character would shift from one to the other in real-time, the world distorting around him.

The material realm was all decayed architecture and faded browns and greys. The spectral realm was a distorted blue and green version of this, with pillars and walls contorting during the transition, cracks expanding to passageways, walls transforming to stairs, and outcrops turning into bridges. Rivers, lakes and all water bodies were locked into the material realm, turning a pond for example into a deep explorable spectral pit. Torrential subterranean rivers in material would become explorable caves in spectral.

In story terms, statues, murals and art from the material realm would always reveal an innate truth when viewed in the spectral realm. Murals of human warriors - who would later become vampires - showed fangs when viewed in spectral. Stained glass windows depicting a romantacised historical event in material - would creepily show the dark truth when viewed in spectral. Altars to divination, would show the demonic undercurrents beneath the religious veil.

Time also froze when entering spectral, allowing the hero to enter the realm in battle, and re-emerge in material behind his adversary.

The series neglected to explore this absolutely brilliant concept in the sequels, unfortunately. A shame as it was so expertly done, with the visible transition between the realities making the experience far more immediate than even Metroid Prime 2 and Link to the Past.
Click to expand...

Have you played the freeware game Eversion, MR? Playing Soul Reaver on my Vita btw. I'll write up a LTTP when I'm done with the series.
 
D

DocSeuss

Member
SNOWBOARDING MOTHERFUCKER

SNOWBOARDING

SNOW. BOARDING. MOTHER. FUCKER.

Have I made myself clear?

Because there were not nearly enough SSX/Amped games on my 360 this gen.

--

Thief's heavily sound-focused stealth would be nice. Instead of stealth being nothing more than vision cones, unaware/aware/searching stealth states, and "don't run," I'd like to get back to Thief's use of paying attention to the surface you're walking on, listening to guards and NPCs cough and chat and sneeze, paying attention to light and shadow, and having guards who don't always immediately respond to you would be nice.

Going with Hitman's approach of "stealth doesn't have to be about keeping unseen" would be nice as well. Even Hitman: Absolution didn't really do this, with guards who'd almost instantly recognize you as out of place, or suits that would straight-up make the map a cakewalk.

Basically, I'd like stealth to have a lot more depth and versatility to it.

Kouriozan said:
Dark Cloud - Making your own towns.
I know there is a perfect setup
Click to expand...

Can you explain this better?

I play games where you build towns all the time, like Tropico and Anno 2070 and stuff. They're fantastic.
 
R

Rayven_king

Member
Spring-Loaded said:
Enemies surrendering/fleeing after being disarmed/overpowered/caught off-guard

Being able to knock out enemies and have that directly affect the game's story/development.

Open world rollerblading/skateboard with an objective, a la Jet Set Radio
Click to expand...

the only instance I can think of is the mgs series when sneaking up on soldiers and holding them up and stealing their items
 
D

duckroll

Member
I'm a big fan of objective-based competitive team multiplayer. Examples would be Counterstrike, Enemy Territory, Left4Dead (in Versus), Unreal Tournament's Assault mode, etc. What I find fun about them, especially when done well, is that there's a sort of scenario design to the overall competitive match, instead of a mindless free for all kill-spam.

In the original Enemy Territory especially, I found it really interesting how much work was put into designing each of the maps. They have different objectives, different scenarios, and require different types of teamwork. It's pretty much like playing a single player mission with a lot of people, and with real players on the other side instead of AI. When playing with a good team who can communicate well, the experience is really amazing. It's honestly the highest form of role playing.

I wish more games explored this in their multiplayer modes, and more multiplayer games focused on actually designing each map with unique scenarios and objectives, rather than having maps built around a general purpose which can be used for DM/TDM/CTF/etc where it just becomes a scoring competition.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
Standout original I.p. that creates a new gaming corridor. Barring that, I would like one experimental game that just pushes A.I. Intelligence to it's limit. Make me the uber powerful son of a gun with my super accuracy, and dozens of minions, and let 'it' survive on its wit. We need a 'Watson' moment in gaming AI.
 
C

Cameron122

Member
@Duckroll

Assault was fantastic in Ut2k4. I love the space fighter map. Here's to hoping FPS games get back to that objective based design soon.
 
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