Heard of Resident Evil: Outbreak or Neverwinter Nights? You team up with other players online to complete the adventure. What if we extend cooperative play? I have no intention to make this as it requires a fiction writer or two, so I thought I''d post it. I also may be posting something posted already but wth. To the idea cave: first off, this is not an MMORPG. Characters there are created, they''re not part of the world; they don''t have a specified role. Second, this is very much like Neverwinter Nights multiplayer, except for the view, which is why I had "machinima" in the post title. Third, some of the players should be the villains. Fourth, while not necessary, some hardware dedicated to immersion would be nice, especially since people will have to get organized and give up specific time just to play in the first place(VR headset, maybe a booth?). Yeah, it''s a little rough, but I''m not doing it so I don''t care. Now all we need is some holographic technology which can make light solid. Live long and prosper.

What are you talking about, exactly? Machinima, by the definition I understand, is using an existing game engine to create a movie of some sort.

Other than that, I can''t tell whether you''re talking about a VR game of some sort, or simply some online persistent world, or what, exactly. You have some train of thought running, but it''s also causing your idea to become distorted beyond my ability to understand. Try to more clearly define what you mean.

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Games that already have lots of pre-written stuff but are built for one player, like RPGs, would isntead become multiplayer, where instead of your team fighting together and watching cut-scenes together, you fight at the same time, possibly against each other and players take over for their counterparts during cut-scenes, becoming that character, either through choosing how to respond to a conversation tree or by talking directly.

So it might be a lot like a machinima production, except the outcome is undetermined because you''re still playing a game, not making a movie(although it would be cool to record it). Players would have either direct choices in a conversation tree or they could have detailed character profiles that they then play into or totally ignore if they want to ruin the experience.

Instead of being a character with attribute thief, you might actually take stuff while other people are talking.

It doesn''t have to be persistent, I imagine most games of this type to be episodic. Just like now, one person could run a server and a bunch of his friends could log onto it at predetermined times to play an episode and advance the story or just the world a tiny bit more.

A good example would be that you and some buddies are part of a squad in World War II and you play through the whole war together. I was tired when I made the other post, more clear now?

Well, to be perfectly honest, this idea seems to be more consistent with the "Let''s make a game just like The Matrix" type of post than with any actual game design ideas. The success of this project, like so many of the newb posts we know and hate, would hinge on a series of miracles:

Miracle #1: Design: Somebody making a game with so many character animations, so many game tree options, such a well-written and sophisticated story and such interesting characters that a human being would be interested in playing any role in the "game".

Miracle #2: Interface: A software engine is developed that allows a character to physically reach into another character''s pocket and steal an item. Not a dice roll, not a "steal" command, but an actual physical interaction between hands and pockets. Of course, stealing is just one example, this same level of detail would have to apply to absolutely every element in the game.

Miracle #3: Virtual Reality: A technological revolution would have to take place before the degree of interactivity you describe here would be manageable. You''d need optical, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory outputs to the player, with nothing short of a synaptic interface for input. If technology ever reaches this point, of course, we all know what game we want to play. Tron.

Miracle #4: Players: Somehow, after all these other things have come to pass, the penultimate obstacle to this game''s success will appear: How the hell are you going to get a dozen video game players to get together and role-play long enough for anything that resembles and interesting story to arrive. Sidekicks would shoot heroes, villains would shoot everything, and heroes would be so busy playing around with their sweet Batmobile that they wouldn''t bother going to the next mission objective. It''d be like a big, retarded costume party where everybody showed up wearing Gyges'' Ring.

Sorry to shoot you down like this, but unless you''re willing to mitigate your ideas all the way down to a MUD, this isn''t going to happen in our lifetime.

quote:Original post by Iron Chef Carnage
Well, to be perfectly honest, this idea seems to be more consistent with the "Let''s make a game just like The Matrix" type of post than with any actual game design ideas. The success of this project, like so many of the newb posts we know and hate, would hinge on a series of miracles:

Miracle #1: Design: Somebody making a game with so many character animations, so many game tree options, such a well-written and sophisticated story and such interesting characters that a human being would be interested in playing any role in the "game".

Miracle #2: Interface: A software engine is developed that allows a character to physically reach into another character''s pocket and steal an item. Not a dice roll, not a "steal" command, but an actual physical interaction between hands and pockets. Of course, stealing is just one example, this same level of detail would have to apply to absolutely every element in the game.

Miracle #3: Virtual Reality: A technological revolution would have to take place before the degree of interactivity you describe here would be manageable. You''d need optical, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory outputs to the player, with nothing short of a synaptic interface for input. If technology ever reaches this point, of course, we all know what game we want to play. Tron.

Miracle #4: Players: Somehow, after all these other things have come to pass, the penultimate obstacle to this game''s success will appear: How the hell are you going to get a dozen video game players to get together and role-play long enough for anything that resembles and interesting story to arrive. Sidekicks would shoot heroes, villains would shoot everything, and heroes would be so busy playing around with their sweet Batmobile that they wouldn''t bother going to the next mission objective. It''d be like a big, retarded costume party where everybody showed up wearing Gyges'' Ring.

Sorry to shoot you down like this, but unless you''re willing to mitigate your ideas all the way down to a MUD, this isn''t going to happen in our lifetime.

I thought of two responses to this since you might not have understood the reference so take whichever you want, both, or neither if you so please.

1)
I was thinking that people who posted to this thread might offer insight as to how one might do it with today''s technology, invent storylines, try to predict how this would alter the gameplay of our tried and true genres, or just use their imagination in any miniscule fashion, but your way works too.

2)
Please reread this very significant portion of my original post

quote:Now all we need is some holographic technology which can make light solid. Live long and prosper.

I''d like to thank you, sometimes I feel as if no one reads my posts and sometimes respondents repeat what I''ve said or just don''t get it, but since you''ve restated it, surely you have spared all those people from making such a mistake.

I thought that solid light thing was a tongue-in cheek joke at your own expense. Even if it worked with current technology, the design obstacles and the simple fact that it would be too open for players to play would still be nearly insurmountable. You''re trying to have total freedom while telling an awesome story. Basically, you want players to act out a James Bond movie and think that it was their idea. I say that''s impossible. Give them rigid guidelines or lower your expectations. Compared to the problem of human nature, the technology is little thing.

quote:Original post by Iron Chef Carnage
You''re trying to have total freedom while telling an awesome story.

Okay, I look at this statement as proof of not understanding the idea.

quote:Basically, you want players to act out a James Bond movie and think that it was their idea.

Not at all. Perhaps something like Clue or Alien or 24.
I don''t know how it would be exactly, but I imagine that for every scenario, the tension arises from the fact that not all players have the same information.

quote: I say that''s impossible. Give them rigid guidelines or lower your expectations. Compared to the problem of human nature, the technology is little thing.

If it''s impossible why do Pen and Paper RPG players stay in the dungeon with all those monsters? Because they decide to. If someone messes it up, don''t play with them. As far as technology, it could actually be done like a text adventure.