Game Concept

[Kopikatsu]

I recently watched a Two Best Friends Play of Alone in the Dark (The new one, with the awesome soundtrack). I have the game, and it made me think...it had a few good concepts going for it. I also thought about RE6 and I've also been looking at the Resident Evil: Revelations page on Steam multiple times a day, just waiting for it to be released because I love Resident Evil.

In any case, what about a Resident Evil game where you get tons of ammo, but shooting the monsters makes them stronger? In Alone in the Dark, you received a handgun near the beginning of the game and despite the limited inventory system, I regularly had 100+ rounds for it at all times. But the Humanz (That is what the basic enemies are called, seriously) could take roughly 40 of them to the face before dying. The gun was mostly for solving puzzles, like shooting a fuse box or knocking a cable down for you to climb.

Spoiler

For example...the first 'gameplay' segment involves a member of the BSAA moving down an alley with their squad. By this point, they've given a bit of exposition about why they're there and provided a bit of characterization. But they see someone hunched over in the middle of the corridor, facing away from them. The Captain stops the squad and tells the person to vacate the area, but they don't respond. He raises his rifle cautiously and says it again, but this time the person only stands straight without saying anything. Says it's the last warning, at which point the person turns around, revealing themselves to be infected. The Captain opens fire, but the 'zombie' just shrugs it off and runs down the corridor at them. The rest of the squad joins in, which causes the 'zombie' to stagger, although it's still moving forward under the hail of gunfire. After the player fires about 2~ magazines or the zombie gets close enough, some of the 'zombie's limbs fall off and it collapses. The squad gets into an argument about how to proceed, and while they're arguing, the 'zombie' mutates RE6-style into an inhuman monster, at which point it gets up and starts running towards the squad again. They try to shoot it, but it's even more resistant to gunfire now, which prompts a member of the squad to pull out a grenade, but the monster tackles them before they can throw it, which causes it to explode, killing the monster and causing the PC to be knocked back, which renders them unconscious.

When the PC wakes up, they only find the remains of two squad members (The one grabbed by the monster and the one that took the brunt of the blast), but there's blood everywhere and all weapons are missing, even the PC's. They're forced to follow the squad's trail (blood stains, bullet casings, etc) armed with only a knife, avoiding the zombies and partially mutated monsters that are prowling around while learning more about the situation through the text messages on dropped cell phones, hearing news reports from TVs that were left on, etc. Eventually they run into a Tyrant-esque monster, which chases them down for a time. Near the end of the chase they notice the corpse of their Captain with a handgun beside his corpse. They dive for it and twist around to aim at the monster just as it descends on them. Click click click. Fade to black, title screen.

...aaaaaaand I got way off topic, I think. Well, essentially, bullets are a minor inconvenience to the enemies. For example, shooting them in the leg with 15~ rounds of an assault rifle will cause them to drop onto one knee for a short time, but the injured limb will mutate and regenerate, making them stronger, faster, more durable, or even add new abilities. The way you have to 'kill' most of the monsters, if you can't simply avoid them, is by using the environment, like shooting a chandelier to fall on top of them to pin them against the floor, or shooting a liquid nitrogen container to freeze the monster before smashing it apart.

 

[Vern5]

Sounds like Dead Space. Although, that was more about strategically shooting certain sections of the enemies' bodies.

This sort of sums up my feelings about it. Actually, it's a little more like somewhere between the Ravenholm section and Amnesia. There's no reliable way to always have a obstacle to use on your enemy so it sounds like a game that will have a lot of fleeing.

OP seems a lot more interested in creating narrative than establishing gameplay systems. Not a criticism. Just saying.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Ok that was actually hard to read awww I was expecting an actual game concept but this just sounds like `hey wouldnt this be cool if`....etc. Maybe you should try thinking it through properly create a back story and setting a few level designs etc.

What you have there isnt a game concept its a badly worded scenario sorry if that sounds harsh but it is. If you feel strongly about it though have a go at fleshing it out make a full concept or design brief with some flowcharts and the rest of the BS that goes along with it or if you are able make a prototype.

 

[DoPo]

...aaaaaaand I got way off topic, I think. Well, essentially, bullets are a minor inconvenience to the enemies. For example, shooting them in the leg with 15~ rounds of an assault rifle will cause them to drop onto one knee for a short time, but the injured limb will mutate and regenerate, making them stronger, faster, more durable, or even add new abilities. The way you have to 'kill' most of the monsters, if you can't simply avoid them, is by using the environment, like shooting a chandelier to fall on top of them to pin them against the floor, or shooting a liquid nitrogen container to freeze the monster before smashing it apart.

That's sort of how zombies are supposed to work. If you remove the whole evolution process - shooting a dead shambling cadaver should do pretty much nothing. They feel no pain, no discomfort, they don't take damage most of the time (what, they don't use their lungs or hears, and many other organs - who cares if they have holes in them). What would stop them is something that actually stops them from operating - damaging the muscle tissue, so they can't use their arms or legs or even putting enough bullets in a limb to sever it. Alternatively, destroy the whole body (incineration works...but be careful[footnote]zombies, aside from the recently deceased, are highly flammable. Humans have a greasy/watery layer near the skin, that's why you don't catch on fire but just burn yourself. A sufficiently old corpse would lack that. Bear in mind that zombies aren't going to stop until their bodies are sufficiently damaged, though, so if you're not careful, instead of slowly advancing horde of zombies, you'll have to deal with a slowly advancing horde of zombies ON FIRE. And fire is harmful to you, too. Also to the environment you're in.[/footnote]) or something otherwise destructive.

That's assuming it's nerve impulses from the brain that somehow operate the corpse. But it's a fair assumption to make - there is this system set up already. Still, depending on the zombies you want/have, the body and the various appendages could very well be operational until destroyed.

Anyway, back to your idea - I can totally see this working. Say, if you call it aliens or ghosts or virus or whatever that causes the zombie/monster uprise, it may very well be a very fast evolution - shoot it in the chest - the monster will grow thicker ribcage, shoot it in the leg - reinforced kneecaps, start using weapons that sever limbs and chunks of flesh - redundant limb and other vital systems. It's evolution in a very short span of time. The only way to destroy them would be fast before they can evolve. And, if I may throw a suggestion, the enemies may also flee (say, if you do have lots of firepower and mange to hurt them bad enough to overcome their healing factor). Which would be bad, as you'd start encountering enemies already resistant to you. And they would have adapted to your firepower already.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Ok that was actually hard to read awww I was expecting an actual game concept but this just sounds like `hey wouldnt this be cool if`....etc. Maybe you should try thinking it through properly create a back story and setting a few level designs etc.

What you have there isnt a game concept its a badly worded scenario sorry if that sounds harsh but it is. If you feel strongly about it though have a go at fleshing it out make a full concept or design brief with some flowcharts and the rest of the BS that goes along with it or if you are able make a prototype.

That's probably because I hadn't really planned on writing any of the middle section. It was sort of spur of the moment, so I didn't give it too much thought.

I actually am currently making a game, but it's an RPG. Because I wouldn't even know where to begin with shooting mechanics. Way outside of my field/capabilities. And actually having to go in and make full models, and code in the systems...yeah, I can't do it.

Anyway, back to your idea - I can totally see this working. Say, if you call it aliens or ghosts or virus or whatever that causes the zombie/monster uprise, it may very well be a very fast evolution - shoot it in the chest - the monster will grow thicker ribcage, shoot it in the leg - reinforced kneecaps, start using weapons that sever limbs and chunks of flesh - redundant limb and other vital systems. It's evolution in a very short span of time. The only way to destroy them would be fast before they can evolve. And, if I may throw a suggestion, the enemies may also flee (say, if you do have lots of firepower and mange to hurt them bad enough to overcome their healing factor). Which would be bad, as you'd start encountering enemies already resistant to you. And they would have adapted to your firepower already.

The Borg?

 

[DoPo]

Anyway, back to your idea - I can totally see this working. Say, if you call it aliens or ghosts or virus or whatever that causes the zombie/monster uprise, it may very well be a very fast evolution - shoot it in the chest - the monster will grow thicker ribcage, shoot it in the leg - reinforced kneecaps, start using weapons that sever limbs and chunks of flesh - redundant limb and other vital systems. It's evolution in a very short span of time. The only way to destroy them would be fast before they can evolve. And, if I may throw a suggestion, the enemies may also flee (say, if you do have lots of firepower and mange to hurt them bad enough to overcome their healing factor). Which would be bad, as you'd start encountering enemies already resistant to you. And they would have adapted to your firepower already.

The Borg?

Erm, gesuntheit.

OK, OK, I am vaguely aware of the Borg. From...Star Trek I think, and they did some Zerg-like absorption and evolution, I believe. That's pretty much the extent of what I know of them. But I was partially basing the idea on Zerg plus few other similar concepts, so I may have hit on the Borg, too.

 

[Maximum Bert]

That's probably because I hadn't really planned on writing any of the middle section. It was sort of spur of the moment, so I didn't give it too much thought.

I actually am currently making a game, but it's an RPG. Because I wouldn't even know where to begin with shooting mechanics. Way outside of my field/capabilities. And actually having to go in and make full models, and code in the systems...yeah, I can't do it.

Yeah it sounded like a spur of the moment thing like you were excited and struggling to get your thoughts across and were tripping over your words.

Fair play on having a go at making an RPG thats some pretty tough stuff I was going to design one but they are to big for me and to much work for one as lazy as my self at the moment I am designing a fighting game well characters, story, controls and general feel of the game the actual hitboxes and frame data etc I would need help on as I dont have the skill or knowledge to accurately assign values and boundaries to them but I have and will continue to research frame data from other games to at least get an idea on how fast and safe / unsafe some moves would be.

Only created a barebones story atm but its over 25000 words so far god knows how much longer it would be if I fleshed it out and to think the main reasons I chose the genre were A) I like it and B) I thought writing a story within it would be piece of piss and straightforward. I am not sure I will finish fleshing it out kinda hard to stay motivated enough to write a short book that will never see the light of day. Havent even added the stupid dialogue yet. An RPG would have killed me.

My game will never get made (ok almost certainly never) but I think if I ever do complete a full non technical design document I will upload it somewhere so people can have a look and laugh at the terrible writing and design. Oh and terribad art unless I can find an artist for it.

 

[daveman247]

OK, OK, I am vaguely aware of the Borg. From...Star Trek I think, and they did some Zerg-like absorption and evolution, I believe. That's pretty much the extent of what I know of them. But I was partially basing the idea on Zerg plus few other similar concepts, so I may have hit on the Borg, too.

Your idea reminds me of the thing We need a better version of that game. Could be a game of trying to stay one step ahead of their adaptiions to you. Find new, more creative ways to get rid of them.

snip

I'm looking forward to revalation HD too The one game which made me think for a moment of getting a 3ds.

Speaking of which, that games enemies (Ooze i think they're called?) take a fair amount of bullets to down too. Nothing mental like 40 bullets but a clip easily.

Sounds like an interesting idea, a cross between the thing and the ghosts from silent hill 4. Makes me wonder if at that point it would be better to just dispense with guns entirely, since they are largley useless (Except for puzzles which could easily be solvable without guns).

 

[Kopikatsu]

Sounds like an interesting idea, a cross between the thing and the ghosts from silent hill 4. Makes me wonder if at that point it would be better to just dispense with guns entirely, since they are largley useless (Except for puzzles which could easily be solvable without guns).

I think removing the guns would defeat the purpose. They serve as a way to activate hazards at long range, and also serve as a desperation measure. You could shoot the enemy and waste precious ammo in order to stun them for a moment to buy yourself more time at the cost of making the enemy stronger, or disable them long enough to catch them with a hazard. It also serves to keep the player from feeling as though they're completely helpless, even though functionally they are.

The reason I feel like it's important to keep the player from feeling like they're helpless is because they aren't. For example, the vents in Dead Space 2. There were a few scares in the vents, but at no point did I ever feel worried...because guns weren't accessible in the vents, so I knew nothing could ever really attack me there, because I couldn't defend myself. So I think it's important they have a means of defending themselves, even if it's largely useless, because then the tension is always there.

 

[daveman247]

snip

hm, fair enough This explantion now reminds me of the forbidden siren games where you sometimes had access to guns but they were pointless because the zombies would come back to life after about two minutes (basically just a stun). That game wasn't about finding hazards, but sneaking past them instead. Add that the fact you played as a normal person 0 dying in one or two hits made for some sometimes frustrating but tense gameplay.


So you're idea is basically a horror/ puzzle game? Sounds interesting but so out there no publisher would touch it these days :/

 

[Kopikatsu]

snip

hm, fair enough This explantion now reminds me of the forbidden siren games where you sometimes had access to guns but they were pointless because the zombies would come back to life after about two minutes (basically just a stun). That game wasn't about finding hazards, but sneaking past them instead. Add that the fact you played as a normal person 0 dying in one or two hits made for some sometimes frustrating but tense gameplay.


So you're idea is basically a horror/ puzzle game? Sounds interesting but so out there no publisher would touch it these days :/

It's basically Alone in the Dark (2008)'s mechanics stapled onto Resident Evil 6's visuals with RE5's enemy designs and a few tweaks here and there (like the player not being able to directly kill enemies)