Enough already. I've freaking had it. If I hear about one more MMOG, FPS, or RTS title... I'm going to EXPLODE! The market is SATURATED worse than anything. Add a creative drought over the entire industry and what do I get? An expensive but dusty joystick. My argument today (and subsequent design that I may drop my current project in favor of) is for variety. I want a nice, tasty, smorgasborg of gameplay, just this once. I want some skill, some strategy, and (as always) some coop/multiplayer elements. More importantly, I wanna fly something cool! Enter "RPA Unlimited". (Robots and Power Armor) A series I'd like to begin that centers around building half-simulation half-arcade games that will hopefully, re-open a dead genre. In this game (which is, by design, derived from my longing to play someof the starfox64-like console games on my PC) you (and up to 15 of your buddies) pilot a novel piece of equipment called a sky-skimmer. Basically, it's what would happen if a bunch of aeronautical and weapons engineers formed a religion around hang-gliders. These gliders have high powered engines, can skim the ground at mach 1, pack a real whallup (missles, lasers, plasma ejectors, machineguns, and bombs) , and can even engage subsonic jets and fighters! Like the MW series, I plan to add a host of chassis systems to choose from, varying engine/powerplant technologies, and a complete spectrum of weapons and accessories to fit every pilot's tastes. Weapons so far include: * Missles (short, medium, and long range/cruise - optional homing/boresight) * Machine guns (no heat generation/power use, ammo limited * Rail guns (ammo is scarce, no heat, long range, slow) * laser (high power consumption, med heat, continious fire!) * plasma (med rate of fire, short range, hot, hurts like hell.) Engines/powerplants come in many flavors, with options for multiple thrusters, dependant upon the chassis: * Ion propulsion - capable of extremely high speeds, these puppies have poor acceleration characteristics, but are stable/excellent at high altitudes. Carries aloft the heaviest of armor. Has poor/low electric output, runs cold to the touch - actively cools your vessel, allowing you to wield plasma weapons with ease. * Electric/Nuclear - using an onboard reactor to power a complex turbofan. These machines have a high electric output, but poor heat characteristics. * Add-on thusters - self-contained thusters that can increase mobility at the expense of power consumption and weight. Armor plating comes in several flavors too: * Impact resistant * EMP hardened * Laser reflective * Ultra-light Other goodies: * Active shielding systems. * chaff/flare systems. * radar and targeting systems. * HUD addons/enhancements. I hope to build a "hardpoint" system that will allow the building of balanced cycles, altering weight, available mounting points, and weapon types. (Yeah I know MW follows this, but why deviate from what works?) This should be alot of fun, I've completed alot of concept art already, and have pages of notes. I may even feel upto writing a complete engine just for this game, instead of using torque, which may not be good for flight-sims. Settings include cities, plains, and the good ole skies of Earth. Enemies include other airborne vechicles, ground troops, tanks, SAM missle batteries (oh fun!), giant robots, mechs, and possibly some "monsters" if I feel the experience isn't complete enough. I hate to say it, but this is just screaming for online play. Being able to duke it out with another RPA pilot (or four) in a city should be fun - especially with modern graphics. Producing nice explosion effects will be kinda challenging. But I've got more weapons/effects ideas than I think I can use! I'd love to have a "garage" where you can tweak your ride's properties just they way you want. I'd like flying to be moderately easy. Flight simulation is pretty easy compared to friction-oriented physics, so the sky is the limit - literally. The ground stuff will use ODE for most everything, my own physics simulation for airborne objects will work for the planes and projectiles/missles. Combat should be a challenge. The AI will be formidable, at least, avoiding missles and SAMs/stingers ought to be a real challenge too. City combat ought to ROCK. Cities will have skyscrapers abound, bridges, powerlines/telephone poles, tunnels, and possibly even traffic/pedrestrians to buzz. I'm still drawing up ideas, so please, feel free to propose whatever.

Kinda exceeds the scope a bit. It's uniqueness is something that'll be a bit hard to realize without a demo. It's fast paced, but far-removed from a FPS, it's rooted as a flight sim. Except it's much faster paced. I dunno of many FPS's where you can zoom at 3000mph, climb to 5000 ft, or hide in the sun.

Additionally, there is a complex radar system where you can actually attempt to be "stealthy" by hugging the terrain, and using passive/boresight radar.

As for city building, I'm looking at generic building/bridge/tunnel placement, as the maps are well over 20mi wide (paged terrain). (But I can see how this could come across as an FPS with flight controls, at first glance at least.)

I suppose my point is that it doesn't even *have* to be unique/innovative - it'll still be the only modern title of the type - awash in even more MMOs, RPGs, and FPS games.

RolandofGilead: Wingtip melee weapons, or flat-out jousting? I kinda like the idea of clipping ground troops at 150mph (without being whipped into a spin!)