I think I''ll focuss on somthing a little more simple and a good starter mabey. How many people would want to play a game where you are placed in a city and you can do anything, rob a bank, go on a car chase, a shooting spree, do contract killing, and have cops chase you on foot and in a car etc... Now this does sound like a Driver type game but it adds the ability to do so much more. Features like day and night changes, weather, and multiplayer would be a blast. Now this was my first idea befor I tried writing somthing of a sci-fi but this to me sounds more fun.

amazingly enough, this is almost exactly the same idea i had for a game in the past few days. although i have nowhere to start, have never programmed a game, and am barely getting by in c++, i''ve had great dreams of what i could make if i knew how. in my idea though, the game would be massively multiplayer, and players could choose what to be (i.e. the police, a criminal, just an ordinary person, military personnel, etc.) and there would be a lot of interaction with the game (everything would be deformable, lots of usable vehicles, etc.). just my thoughts

Sounds fun...But if you''re a beginner you might want to do some other stuff. Either way, I can''t stress the importance of planning ahead. Don''t just sit in front of the computer and expect to crank out a game. Use paper, draw diagrams, maps, etc. Don''t go in blind, take it slow and make sure you''re not overwhelming yourself. If you do get overwhelmed just back off, think about it, then try again. You might even want a partner-someone who can write code, draw diagrams, and come up with new ideas (Alway''s helpful!). Speaking of ideas-come up with tons. Better to think up 100 ideas and throw away 50 than think up 60 and throw away 10. (Remember, I made these numbers up. Feel free to think up more-or less.)

Well I think I''ll give this a shot.

If there is anyone who wants to join me email me.

mitchell002@home.com

Moved to Game Design.

I thought of something similar the first time I played GTA (great game). It''s interesting that all the "career" options you present are criminal; homegrown89 presented additional options but raised a major difficulty - limitations/restrictions.

A huge (infinite) variety of occupations means data, stories, planning - a lot of work! Completely deformable environments mean 3D graphics (sprites for all the various stages of [dis]repair are no small feat); lots of usable vehicles, in 3D, means tons of data. Add human and building models and you quickly have an asset management nightmare on your hands. And we haven''t even started talking about gameplay/logic!

I''m not trying to dampen your enthusiams - by no means! I''m tryiing to point out some of the aspects you''ll need to consider when designing, the difficulties you''ll need to overcome. You''ll need to constantly review your designs with a competent programmer/developer to estimate their feasibility and/or possible solutions to specific implementation problems. But it''s definitely doable.

Keep us posted!

Pre-compiled game scripting is one way to go, that way you can add businesses, busines types, etc. This does mean that your world/story framework will be a bit hairy, because it would need to be mega extensible and still fast (hence pre-compiling).

Want to be an organ grinder? Script your model behaviors and skin yourself a monkey''s uncle.

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-WarMage
...nobody knoooooows.. the trouble i''ve seeeeen.. nobody knows cos I kill em to keep dey mouf shut.