If this thread is about the Western genre (like those movies with Clint Eastwood)in games, then that''s what I''d like to see:

- FPS? I hate FPSs! I believe FPSs are done by those who can''t create a good-looking hero. My vote for third-person 3D adventuring (RPG elements welcome).

- Improved horse factor. I so much pitied that all these ''Yiee-haw'' parts in the Outlaws were non-interactive. Also, I want the player to really feel that bond with his animal. To rely on it, and also to be in charge of it. I want the player to pity the loss of his horse.

- Context-sensitive soundtrack. Like the Outlaws, but corresponding to what''s happening.

- Trenchcoat waving in the wind.

- Shooting from two revolvers simultaneously. Realistic reloads taking time (see Outlaws again).

+ everything bishop_pass said.
Now will somebody please make my dream come true?

If it''s going to be based around a single character, then I agree with the third-person action/adventure with RPG elements. I also think that the game should start when the character is very young, like Nevada Smith. Make him 17 or so, with good physical fitness, but little to no weaponcraft outside of hunting. Let the skills develop with real-time practice, like shooting cacti from horseback as you go from town to town.

Also, if it''s going to be a Western, there has to be the possibility of dying in the desert. You''ve gotta carry water, or find it, if you want to live out there. Not just you, but your horse as well.

Include a variety of factions, like lawmen, who are sparsely distributed but well-trained and like-minded, and cattle rustlers, who stick together but are essentially boobs.

Actually, this game might be best if it''s modelled on something like Grand Theft Auto III. A total moral vaccuum, in which you can join the US Marshalls or rob trains or assassinate Mexican politicians for a living. Apart from survival, all your goals would be self-set. you could get rich or live in a cave. It would be neat to see your face on a wanted poster, and watch your bounty rise, or else track down men with bounties on their heads and turn them in to the local law. Total freedom would really capture the lawless nature of the romantic fiction that is the Wild West.

Well, that would be a terrifically immersive world, and would be very conducive to character development. The only real obstacle to a good Wild West RPG is that death comes so easily there. If it''s to be one-player, you can just make the player character damn near invincible, like in GTA III, where you can absorb pound after pound of lead and then bring down the baddies with a few shots. For a MMORPG version, you''d have to make it very, very easy to create a character, since the more ambitious players will get blasted fairly regularly. Heck, I know people who play P&P RPGs with strict death rules, and they sometimes go through three or four characters in a single sitting. Just come back as their own son, and power on through.

quote:Original post by bishop_pass
From the high plains of Wyoming to the Rio Grande of Texas and further out west to the mining towns of the Sierra Nevada...

This genre isn''t exploited to its potential. No doubt some will claim that it doesn''t lend itself to play like a fantasy or sci-fi epic might, but that just isn''t true. The Western contains many of the classical elements any game could hope for.

Could not agree more. I have never understood why there are so few computer games for westerns and superheroes. These are some of the richest genres in pop culture, yet we can easily count the number of western games on one hand.

I suspect the reason for this is that these genres really lend themselves to a CRPG, and CRPGs are simply not popular with publishers. They take a lot of resources, and are notoriously difficult to test. When you add any deviation from the standard Tolkien ripoff world, the publishers panic.

Anyway, I''d vote for a (what else?) CRPG. If I never play an RTS again, that''d be fine with me. I loved Outlaws, so I would give an FPS a chance, but I really doubt I''d stick to it.