Dear Gamedev,

My question for you today is what do you think about realistic emergency services simulators? Such as a police game where you are a NYPD officer and you start off as a beat officer. You walk around the streets looking for crime and going to 911 calls by foot. As you play the game and get arrests you get ranked up until you get your patrol car. Where then you drive around pulling over civilians and responding to pursuits and other high risk situations. It would be very realistic. It would be full time 1st person with driving and walking. Possible Concepts:

Equipment on Officer:
Glock 17
Pepper Spray
Latex Gloves
Hand Cuffs
Radio
Baton
Tazer
Knife

Equipment in Patrol Car:
Radar Gun
LED Lights with full realistic controls of light patterns ect.
MDC (Mobile Database Computer)
*Each civilians has a unique ID, and are always keep the same name, so you can search names on the computer.*
Traffic Cones
Flares
Traffic Vest
First Aid Kit

Yes that is right all the equipment is dynamic and can be used. If you respond to a traffic accident, you may have to pull out the traffic cones and place on the scene. But this game is not a game where you are told where to place all your items. If you want to stop in the middle of the road for no reason and place a traffic cone then do it. Yes you are taking the role play and realistically out of the game but you have all control over how you play.

This is just a idea.

Do you think this game would be popular?
Do you think there is a market for emergency simulators?


If you have a thing for Police, Fire, or EMS. Please contact me I would love to discuss more ideas with you!

Thanks!

A possible concept is a online massive multiplayer where you are working with a lot of other officers, and yes it would be 24 hours based. The time would be based on the time zone in the city that we chose for the setting. This means that if you were to get on when that city is having night then you would be playing at night time. And yes the map/town is large scale. So it would take time for you to cross the city. Does this mean that when you are on one side you will get a call and have to go to the other side no! You would only be dispatched to calls within your walking or driving distance. Which would be around your station. This game is more for people who like role playing as police officers. Yes this game also does contain Fire and EMS built in so when you first join you would pick your occupation and then starts from the bottom.


Thanks for your input!!

I think the more-real-than-real approach isn't a good way to go. Escapism is for a reason. Plus simplification generally makes a game easier to play. I think the locked-to-realtime approach is particularly bad because a player who plays after work will *always* see the game in night-time. They won't get to experience the day-time content at all.

I think there is potentially a market for simulation for training purposes. The core of such a game would essentially be the question "can you make the correct decisions under extreme time and emotional pressures?". I believe there's also a market for things like emergency simulators, e.g. simulating the evacuation of a building in a fire, etc. But the market would likely be pretty small and/or specialised, e.g. requiring accurate behavioural models for NPCs according to certain psychological research papers.

Would this game be fun? Look at the thousands of videos on youtube for the keyword "lcpdfr" that is a plugin/addon for GTA IV. It is a very popular addon it allows you to play as a police officer. But this addon has its limits. Take a look.