Books to games

Leeathal

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Ok people, everybody talks about movies into games, comics into games etc. I just thought it would be different to hear what books/novels ect they would like turned into games.
 

Leeathal

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True but they made the movies of harry potter into games and never followed the books, same with lord of the rings
 

Amarok

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The bible would have some pretty interesting gameplay in it.

That or The Darwin Awards (Gain points by killing yourself in the most ridiculous manner with the set-pieces provided - admittedly that sounds like only enough to fill a minigame... meh, if we can come up with a memorable cast of characters and a loose plot, it just might work)
 

Cymraeg Phill

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Dec 15, 2008
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I don't really like the idea of making a game from a book. Mainly because I like a game which gives me an amount of freedom to do a bit of "Sandbox"-ing whilst being able to continue the storyline, like GTA:IV did.

Books into games just makes a rather linear game where the player can't do much exploring of the game world and has to follow the storyline which kid of sucks because the only reason you buy a game based on a book is probably because you've already read said book and therefore know half the bloody plot already, the Harry Potter series of games is a good example me thinks!
 

October Country

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On the top of my head I cannot mention any books that would make good games, though I am sure there are lots. I think the reason that more movies than books get made into games is that, if you are going to copy a concept, it it easier to borrow both the visuals, sound and story, in stead of just the story. A book to game conversion would require more work and more imagination.
 

Leeathal

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The bible, nice one never thought of that, could spin of a load of crazy games like starwars episode 7 - the christian wars or grand theft juadism (might of spelt that wrong)
 

scnj

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Books to games are a bad idea. The thing with games is that they require a certain amount of action for people to play them, which requires enemies and conflict. Books, on the other hand, don't tend to have enough action to be translated to game form, as they are more concerned with storyline, dialogue and characterization.

The point I guess I'm trying to make is that, as storytelling mediums, books and games are nearly totally different so it's hard to translate one into the other without a severe amount of suckage.
 

Leeathal

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yes but books need imagination to bring them to life and so do games unless your nocking a film off
 

Clemenstation

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Some pretty good games can be linked back to books, in theme if not story (see: Bioshock vs Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged). I agree that book plots don't need to serve as an exact template for games, but if you're looking for ideas or inspiration there is far more going on in literature than Hollywood.
 

Erana

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I think that the Dragon Riders of Pern would make a great game.
It already has various classes (and ranks) set out, missions, different main cities, instant transport, and the likes.
Its screaming to be an MMORPG.

By the way, this thread has been done before.
 

Healey

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Apr 14, 2008
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Suggested this on another thread; George Orwell's 1984. Admittedly, it has been made into a film several times, but this idea I got specifically from the book. Would be presented, I suppose, as a urban-sneaking game in a lot of cases; trying to avoid the Thought Police whilst trying to bring down The Party. Alternately, it could be a rather predictable RTS (constant warring between the three world factions).
 

super_smash_jesus

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Cymraeg Phill said:
I don't really like the idea of making a game from a book. Mainly because I like a game which gives me an amount of freedom to do a bit of "Sandbox"-ing whilst being able to continue the storyline, like GTA:IV did.

Books into games just makes a rather linear game where the player can't do much exploring of the game world and has to follow the storyline which kid of sucks because the only reason you buy a game based on a book is probably because you've already read said book and therefore know half the bloody plot already, the Harry Potter series of games is a good example me thinks!
well, there are always those select your quest books, where you choose what to do, like "skip to page 38" and so on, that is like a mental sanbox.

I didn't like the bourne game, but I also didn't like the movies because they completely bastardized the books. I thought they were good action flicks, and I would have probably loved them had they gone by a different name.

I think a better book that could make a half decent game would be "The Hobbit". I think they could make that a great action adventure game akin to Zelda, or even a role playing game where you uo stats and gain people for your party.
 

Kuweekee

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Well, if there's one game I would like to see it's a MMORPG based on the Sword of Truth series. With it's 12 books it has more than enough content, and the lore should be no problem as well.
 

seamusotorain

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I actually liked LOTR: Return of The King on Ps2 (more of a movie tie-in, but it's that or "The Hobbit" on Ps2 as well).

I'd love a game based on "Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit?". You sit around and using Quick Time Events complain about EVERYTHING.
 

scnj

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Healey said:
Alternately, it could be a rather predictable RTS (constant warring between the three world factions).
That would ruin it. Part of the experience was the question of whether or not the other factions existed and if they were actually at war with each other.
 

Healey

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scnj said:
Healey said:
Alternately, it could be a rather predictable RTS (constant warring between the three world factions).
That would ruin it. Part of the experience was the question of whether or not the other factions existed and if they were actually at war with each other.
Argh; completely forgot about that. Good point. 1984 is a very deep text to work with, I imagine, so it'd be hard to see anything done of it without dumbing it down. Well, guess I'm back down to one idea.
Ooh, but here's another one, then. World War Z. Probably more from concept than plot, but it could come across as a first-person (possibly with RPG elements) game having the player seek refuge from the undead horde.