While there's certainly nothing fun about what's going on in Haiti and the amazing relief efforts underway there, after watching hours of CNN coverage I couldn't help think: this would make for a hell of a video game.
Think of it as an Emergency game on steroids. It would be a unique RTS about saving lives, not taking them. Think of the possibilities:
Each mission takes you to a different location (a major European city, a south-Asian archipelago, etc.) to tackle a different type of disaster (earthquake, hurricane, terrorist attack). Both the different places and different emergencies would provide different gameplay challenges and possibilities. Also, the ability to play through historical disasters like the tsunami and 9/11.
You choose to play as the government of one of several countries, each with its own specialty in terms of units, resources, or skills (think Civilization).
Think of the myriad tasks to perform. Security, medical, infrastructure...they would all be totally interconnected (as they are in real life) -- meaning you couldn't land in planes with resources until you cleared debris from the runway; you couldn't set up a hospital until you dealt with the escaped prisoners looting the facilities, etc.
Resource and time management would be of the essence and truly meaningful. Every wasted second or poorly-handled situation means more people die.
Conflicts with other intervening government and with local authorities. Heart-wrenching strategic and moral choices. You can't save everyone, and sometimes you just have to make a decision that means some people will die.
That's just the tip of the iceberg... never mind that it would call for an awesome cooperative multiplayer mode in which players would take charge of different governments and collaborate to tackle the biggest disasters, in specially-designed missions that would require working together and helping each other. Add a map/scenario creator and you've got endless possibilities.
I could go on for days about how great this could be. Thoughts?
Think of it as an Emergency game on steroids. It would be a unique RTS about saving lives, not taking them. Think of the possibilities:
Each mission takes you to a different location (a major European city, a south-Asian archipelago, etc.) to tackle a different type of disaster (earthquake, hurricane, terrorist attack). Both the different places and different emergencies would provide different gameplay challenges and possibilities. Also, the ability to play through historical disasters like the tsunami and 9/11.
You choose to play as the government of one of several countries, each with its own specialty in terms of units, resources, or skills (think Civilization).
Think of the myriad tasks to perform. Security, medical, infrastructure...they would all be totally interconnected (as they are in real life) -- meaning you couldn't land in planes with resources until you cleared debris from the runway; you couldn't set up a hospital until you dealt with the escaped prisoners looting the facilities, etc.
Resource and time management would be of the essence and truly meaningful. Every wasted second or poorly-handled situation means more people die.
Conflicts with other intervening government and with local authorities. Heart-wrenching strategic and moral choices. You can't save everyone, and sometimes you just have to make a decision that means some people will die.
That's just the tip of the iceberg... never mind that it would call for an awesome cooperative multiplayer mode in which players would take charge of different governments and collaborate to tackle the biggest disasters, in specially-designed missions that would require working together and helping each other. Add a map/scenario creator and you've got endless possibilities.
I could go on for days about how great this could be. Thoughts?
