Create the ideal FPS

[The Breadcrab]

Hey all,

I recently started a poll thread where people could sound off about what they think is wrong with modern FPS games, which can be viewed here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.321472-Poll-What-in-your-opinion-makes-for-a-bad-FPS?page=3#13159836

Anyways, this thread is quite different. In trying to see the flaws in something, we must first recognize 'greatness', right? That's why you'll get the chance to create what you feel is the template for the ideal FPS.

It's pretty simple. Imagine you have full control over a dev team and can create any FPS you want. (just go with it) You have pretty high resources and budget, so don't worry about over-ambition. Just give a brief (or not so brief) description of an FPS that you would create if given the chance. Basically, a sort of design doc. It can even be a sequel/prequel/remake/reboot to an existing franchise. Or you can take an existing game as a template and just add to it.

Some things you can list:

- Story and style of storytelling (Cutscenes? Purely scripted events?)
- Setting
- Art style
- A few characters, at least the protagonist
- Platforms it's available on
- Mechanics (health packs? weapon limits? squad mates? boss fights? etc.)
- Mechanics from other genres (maybe a vehicle section or two? Or is the game a hybrid of FPS and Strategy?)
- Weapons (if you can't think of any, just state descriptors for the weapon set like "varied and futuristic" or "realistic and weighty", etc.)
- Speed of gameplay (slower and tactical? Or serious sam on steroids?)
- Retail or downloadable
- Single-player, co-op, or multiplayer (or all three)
- Level design (open-world? linear? Or a mix of the two? any exploration?)
- Tone/atmosphere (straight-faced seriousness? self-reflexive parody? Something else?)
- Any inspirational sources (How about an FPS inspired by The Garden of Eden? Woah, that actually sounds cool)
- Any unique/off-the-wall segments that really stand out (Maybe a sequence where all your weapons start healing enemies? Or a part where your vehicle starts talking to you?)
- Anything else you want to add

 

[Nickompoop]

Picture Half Life 2, but with no jumping puzzles and the graphics of Crysis 2.

/thread

 

[Terminate421]

Picture Halo Reach......

Oh wait.

 

[The Breadcrab]

Interesting. Two titles both starting with H are leading the pack so far...

 

[skywolfblue]

Half Life 3. Ah, like all ideals, doomed to never actually exist in reality and only in the dreams of gamers.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Art style-Forget realism completely. Go for a fun aesthetic like the latest Rayman and Zelda games.

Story-Cutscenes when they are actually needed. Otherwise go for the Half-Life way of it.

Setting-Another planet. That way your not restricted to regular locations. Your not on earth. You set your own rules for what can happen and what can't.

Characters-Have the main character talk. I cant stress that enough. Make him/her a funny likable character. Give em a few buddys but dont muck it up so much some people dont have enough screen time. Have a somewhat simpathectic enemy

Platforms- Consols and PC.

Mechanics- For health, its a luck system. Your character has some mcguffin that makes it unlikely to get shot and when that luck meter runs low you need to find health packs cause now your getting hit. 5 weapon limit. Squadmates come and go but this is a mainly single player thing.

Weapons- Futuristic and as insane as you can get.

Speed of gameplay- You can get thru the level quick if you master the controls. Easy to learn, hard to master.

Level design- Metroid-like. The game wants you to go somewhere but you can still screw around.

Tone- There are steaks involved but its not grim.

Final thing- Add a power to the game. Something like plasmids in Bioshock or the whip in Bulletstorm. Make it to where its not JUST a shooter but requires tactics.

 

[Athinira]

Same here.

I thought Reach was fantastic. Mostly because of its brilliant pacing and great level design.

Yeah, it didn't have a great story or any memorable characters, but gameplay is far more important to me. So yeah, I thought it was awesome.

Problem is that the Halo shooting mechanics have never been quite satisfying. Sure, there is a large variety of guns which are decently fun to use, but most of them (even the big ones) just feel like they lack a lot of impact, and that's a big downer for me. I like games where i can kill enemies with one shot/headshot, but instead have more enemies on screen (case in point, Modern Warfare), while in Halo, you typically have to pound at enemies for quite a while before they die, especially on the harder difficulties. Since most of the guns have aim-assistance, there isn't much skill to it either, and while not wishing to stomp all over console owners, a game where 'skill' is amplified by assisted aiming and similar systems isn't 'ideal' in any way.

 

[The Breadcrab]

Art style-Forget realism completely. Go for a fun aesthetic like the latest Rayman and Zelda games.

Story-Cutscenes when they are actually needed. Otherwise go for the Half-Life way of it.

Setting-Another planet. That way your not restricted to regular locations. Your not on earth. You set your own rules for what can happen and what can't.

Characters-Have the main character talk. I cant stress that enough. Make him/her a funny likable character. Give em a few buddys but dont muck it up so much some people dont have enough screen time. Have a somewhat simpathectic enemy

Platforms- Consols and PC.

Mechanics- For health, its a luck system. Your character has some mcguffin that makes it unlikely to get shot and when that luck meter runs low you need to find health packs cause now your getting hit. 5 weapon limit. Squadmates come and go but this is a mainly single player thing.

Weapons- Futuristic and as insane as you can get.

Speed of gameplay- You can get thru the level quick if you master the controls. Easy to learn, hard to master.

Level design- Metroid-like. The game wants you to go somewhere but you can still screw around.

Tone- There are steaks involved but its not grim.

Final thing- Add a power to the game. Something like plasmids in Bioshock or the whip in Bulletstorm. Make it to where its not JUST a shooter but requires tactics.

Very interesting... I'm especially liking the 'luck' mechanic. The Metroid-like design sounds good too.

 

[crazyarms33]

I want the versatility of the BF 3 in the mulitplayer aspect. The weapon mods, the large maps, the vehicles and the points for reviving, healing capturing/defending objects etc. However, I want the infantry to be able to actually shoot down the flying vehicles after they drop countermeasures(seriously how many flares can one helicopter have?)
As far as the single player goes make the main character likable! Have him/her speak! Why is it that all FPS games main character is either a major tool ie Duke Nukem or is the strong silent type like Master Chief? Moving further along that line if you are going to have team mates make sure that A.) they are competent and B.) Aren't just generic sidekick number 56234. And for goodness sake flip the script around in some way. No more terrorists with nukes, no more world war whatever, no colossal alien invasion. I just want something new. Also I would make single-player and multiplayer be selling points that were equally good(Ha! In a perfect world right?).

 

[jacobythehedgehog]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has better graphics

 

[PleasantKenobi]

Problem is that the Halo shooting mechanics have never been quite satisfying. Sure, there is a large variety of guns which are decently fun to use, but most of them (even the big ones) just feel like they lack a lot of impact, and that's a big downer for me. I like games where i can kill enemies with one shot/headshot, but instead have more enemies on screen (case in point, Modern Warfare), while in Halo, you typically have to pound at enemies for quite a while before they die, especially on the harder difficulties. Since most of the guns have aim-assistance, there isn't much skill to it either, and while not wishing to stomp all over console owners, a game where 'skill' is amplified by assisted aiming and similar systems isn't 'ideal' in any way.

Skill isn't just composed of your ability to aim, per pixel, at enemies. Strategy and mastering the games mechanics become important. Halo has a 'trinity' of mechanics, the grenades, the melee and the guns which all factor into how you play. The gameplay in Halo is alot richer than most PC elitists would have you believe.

 

[PleasantKenobi]

*SNIP*

Very interesting... I'm especially liking the 'luck' mechanic.

This luck idea is something I had considered myself before, and really liked the idea of. Nice to see other people have considered it. Shame those people don't work in the games industry.

 

[Bad Jim]

I would ditch the aim assisted right analogue stick for aiming. I would replace it with a motion sensitive controller. Twisting the controller lets you look around. Holding down a button disables it, so if you've turned 180 degrees and want to turn more, you can un-contort yourself. By default I'd scale it so turning the controller 90 degrees turns your toon 180 degrees.

I believe motion sensors are much better than analogue sticks for aiming. It's something I noticed when playing Ocarina of Time of the 3DS. Those shooting minigames are much easier with motion control. Mice are better still of course, but a lot of players like to play on the sofa.

I'd do it rather old school with a protagonist who can run at about 50 mph and jumps to a height of about 20 feet. That's precisely the sort of game that can't be done with analogue sticks.

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As far as regenerating health goes, I would have it, but you would only regenerate 1% health every 3 seconds. Your primary source of health would be medikits. The regeneration is to reassure the player that he will not suffer health pack starvation, and does not need to reload if he finishes a battle on low health.

I would also regenerate ammo, especially for the powerful weapons. This should fight the urge many players have to conserve their ammo and ultimately never use their decent weapons.

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For multiplayer, I would include, among the various skill/perks, some specifically designed to counter cheap tactics, real or perceived. Noob tube spam? Pick "bombproof". Sniping? Pick the one that limits the damage of a single bullet to 20% health. Spawn camping? Well that would be impossible by default, everyone would spawn with five seconds being invincible and with a huge damage multiplier.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

A 'spiritual' sequel to one of my favorite old FPSes, Hexen/Heretic. Painkiller is the most recent one I can think of that showed off how amazing Gothic art and architecture can look for this kind of game. Furthermore you have a reason to include a huge variety of demonic enemies instead of an army of clones with guns. Hexen had an ordinary level of gore for its time, but for this one I'd prefer more visual cues from Silent Hill, where the weather and lighting itself seems malicious at times.

All the games in the Heretic 'family' after the first have had multiple classes to choose with a set of unique weapons and abilities, though the one factor shared by them was how much you have to conserve Mana for your super weapons. To remedy this instead of health, give your Mana a slow regeneration rate, thus never leaving you completely helpless. Alternatively, since you always get two types of mana and at least one weapon that runs on each type, do the Metroid Prime thing where killing an enemy with a weapon powered by Mana A causes them to drop Mana B, and vice versa.

Hexen also had a good number of magical items like the Wings of Wrath and the Porkelator that were just as effective in multiplayer (though I do remember being killed by a pig's melee once), so incorporate all of those and more with the ability to turn off unwanted items for maps. All the Hexen family's multiplayer modes let you choose whether to have monsters spawning on a map, but to take it one step further, include a mode where each new monster spawned is aligned with a random player (identified by shade of colour) and will follow them around if near, supporting them.

Like its predecessors, this game uses hub worlds and has no safe harbours. Enemies will eventually come back after you leave an area, and with improved AI they could actively track you no matter where you are on the map. Being slavering monstrosities, they aren't exactly subtle- you will hear a creature's unique shriek or laughter long before they reach you, this is only a sign that they are actively looking for you. This also diminishes the need to pack every room full of enemies. Keep the series' death traps though, especially the ones you can lure enemies into .

None of these games have paid too much attention to story, but I would include an internal monologue a la Prince of Persia that doesn't stop for cutscenes. Just the character journalling or dwelling on the horrors they come upon, perhaps expressing different reactions dependent on class (the necromancer isn't so perturbed by the sight of mass corpses, but expresses his disgust for the hypocrisy of a church devoted to worshipping the villain when going through it). And of course each one would have a different voice and multiplayer taunts to go with them, just as distinct and fleshed-out as TF2's classes.

 

[shrimpcel]

- Entirely first person, no cutscenes at all. Main character should be silent but not to the point of being ridiculous. Setting: Can be a modern war, or some other similar operations that do not include actual war. Tone/atmosphere: at least SOME political commentary! We need a little seriousness and links to real life in our games, from time to time. If it's fun, there's no reason why it can't make you think either. Realistic art style, but forget about grays and browns, add some color in there! "Crysis" graphics, of course.

- The main character does not need to have a detailed background. It doesn't matter to me if he's American, just leave the man alone. Or woman. The supporting characters should be the real focus here. Have one or two very important supporting characters, and have the main character be part of a slightly bigger group of people with diverse personalities and backgrounds.

- Single-player only. And therefore very long. Health does not regenerate by itself. Maybe it comes back by using medicine, maybe you actually have to seek out a doctor/medic, as long as your wounds do not magically cure themselves very fast. Limited amount of weapons at the same time. Some sections will be alone, some with a main NPC ally, some with more allies.

- Boss fights should not be unrealistic, but there should be some challenging "big" enemies (vehicles and such). Vehicle sections with DRIVEABLE vehicles. Realistic weapons. Not too many different weapons, but a great amount of variety between them. Speed of gameplay should vary, variety is the key! For the level design, think Bioshock: linear, but can go back to previous areas, take different paths, etc.

- Inspirations: Half-Life, Half-Life 2, including Episode 1 and Episode 2, Bioshock. Even Portal, for the dark sense of humor. Think all these, but set to real life.