[Game Idea] Mirrors-4-Dead

[Spoon E11]

sounds kinda epic to me.

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

It's not complicated at all. Build city, populate with zombies and refugees. Have supplies. Let the players figure out how to get to and from there.

... I understood it quite well. I didn't mean it was too complicated to understand, I meant it was too complex for a basis of gameplay. I'll submit that it would work, and might make for a good VS. mode, but it would fail as a primary premise for a game.

I can't remember the name, but theres a new fps coming out that sounds excatly like what you've described.
It was on a massive ship, with security vs guerillas in a sorta sci-fi. What was the name?

 

[Joshimodo]

It's an alright idea. I think you've gone a bit too complicated with it. Simply merging the "Free Running" aspect of Mirror's Edge with any team-based multiplayer FPS is a good idea. Imagine TF2 where you can run across walls and slide down guy wires.

There is no reason to make it as complicated as you have, and from a design perspective it's more work than is necessary for pay off.

Brink has done that.

It's not complicated at all. Build city, populate with zombies and refugees. Have supplies. Let the players figure out how to get to and from there.

... I understood it quite well. I didn't mean it was too complicated to understand, I meant it was too complex for a basis of gameplay. I'll submit that it would work, and might make for a good VS. mode, but it would fail as a primary premise for a game.

I can't remember the name, but theres a new fps coming out that sounds excatly like what you've described.
It was on a massive ship, with security vs guerillas in a sorta sci-fi. What was the name?

Probably Brink.

 

[Twilight_guy]

You do realize you just suggested the inevitable zombie mod of a game, right? Why is it that everything has to have a zombie mod, why can't we just have a game without trying to crowbar in zombie everywhere? What is wrong with you people?

OT: Meh, it sounds okay but you probably need to flesh it out a little more so its not just a copy of Mirror's edge with zombies.

 

[Smooth Operator]

OMG, stop it with the zombies!
They are already added to 90% of the games now you want to flood the rest?

 

[migo]

Mirror's Edge was never really about the plot, and the whole idea of runners was probably due to the fact that there isn't a recognisable free runner for EA to publish EA Sports Jumpy McFly Parkour and have the whole game just be about running around doing tricks.

You don't give DICE enough credit...

I think I do. Pure Time Trials was everything good about Mirror's Edge with none of the bad. PTT didn't have any plot.

I like it but it should work like DLC, like Red Dead Redemption and undead nightmare...And with Brink, maybe it should have the DLC of zombies with your idea, too late for Mirrors edge so fit it into Brink...DLC!

Actually, that would probably end up working quite well, and an interesting scenario where security and resistance work together.

You do realize you just suggested the inevitable zombie mod of a game, right? Why is it that everything has to have a zombie mod, why can't we just have a game without trying to crowbar in zombie everywhere? What is wrong with you people?

OT: Meh, it sounds okay but you probably need to flesh it out a little more so its not just a copy of Mirror's edge with zombies.

Except in this case, it makes a hell of a lot more sense when you're running supplies to get around zombies, rather than delivering messages.

Neat idea, but if the game was -just- that it would go nowhere. Plus there's a lot of fleshing out. A lot of coding would be involved. Playing it might even be a hassle. Sure you're running from zombies and that's great and all. But 3 things really hit a big snag right out of the gate with me. I mean the mechanics just don't fit together, they're hard to make work and be fun without being useless. 1. If it's like mirror's edge, you're mostly running away. Awesome. Zombies however are not good at running. So you'd basically just ignore zombies and run, the zombies are just the "if you fuck up you get torn apart" part of it. Which is fine but falling to your death does the same thing. The zombies then become useless.

You obviously didn't read the bit about runners becoming runner zombies, did you. As for mostly just sticking to the ground and you avoid them, that actually improves the game as the cops were pretty annoying in ME.

2. Ifyou add combat -and- free running. Which one is more important? I mean if combat is, the free running is just an added bonus. If the free running is, then you really have no real need for combat.

Mirror's Edge had a glimmer of a good combat system. If you could actually stick a handgun in your waistband it would be pretty good.

3. Teamwork. If you have people running around as a team, some guards, and the courier. That's a neat plan. ..But the courier is carrying supplies, and is slower. So the free running aspect seems to get crippled right there.

Not entirely, you just need to select different routes, or switch off roles as you pass supplies up over areas which you couldn't cover with the supplies.

And if we go like mirror's edge,

We're obviously not going to take everything bad about Mirror's Edge, that would be silly.

there are some things you can't do with a weapon. So the guards also cannot free run. >.> Mechanic has been stabbed in the heart yet again.

You could do everything with a pistol, and no logical reason you couldn't strap a gun to your back.

I mean don't get me wrong, the idea sounds cool. Just needs plenty of fleshing out. Not to mention is sounds like a ***** to actually get working properly.

...um. ...not to rain on your parade. >.>; sorry

Yeah, of course it would need development, playtesting and revision too.

 

[TiefBlau]

Free running with zombies doesn't exactly sound like the most seamless combination. I like your idea of combining free running with the constant element of predatory danger, but zombies are clumsy, slow-moving organisms that amble towards the nearest smell of brain. Even if you attempt the quick-charging zombies of Dawn of the Dead (the remake), they still don't have the coordination, grace, or range to pose any kind of recognizable threat to any freerunner, nonetheless a team. And god knows why they would be on rooftops.

Sure, you can have the special zombies from Left4Dead. The witch to maneuver around, the hunter chasing you down, and the smoker latching onto you in midair. But without the typical horde zombies, it's not really a zombie game at all. They're better off being mutants, or aliens.

If you strip down the overused element of "zombie" and reveal it in its barest form, attempting to escape an obsequious inhuman danger that plagues the entire world around you, you'd have yourself a damn good freerunner. You can say you're escaping from a warzone of some alien, robot, or futuristic human battle, like Canabalt. You can say the town is being invaded by mutants or zombies, and give it the whole "infested" aesthetic, like in System Shock 2 or Prototype.

But I really wouldn't see zombie apocalypse as a feasible setting.

 

[migo]

Left 4 Dead would be a hell of a lot more fun with free running. As for zombies on rooftops, they wouldn't be, that's why you're on the rooftops, as opposed to running around exposed to all the satellites in Mirror's Edge. You'd still have to deal with them when you're hitting the ground to get supplies.

It's a more feasible setting than the V for Vendetta with no satellites that Mirror's Edge was.

 

[viranimus]

Honestly.. This is how I play L4D anyway. Part of me feels that is really how its intended to be played anyway. Irritates me all to hell to get into a auto group and the players want to creep around checking every corner, which in a zombie apacolypse, that would be the absolute last thing you would do. Your focus would be to quickly move from safe point to safe point.

The longer your exposed, the more likely something is going to go wrong.

 

[FalloutJack]

This is an excellent idea. I want this to happen, seriously. The world needs to train against the zombie menace.

 

[The Wykydtron]

So Brink with zombies really? EXCELLENT! *air guitar*

Though i'm getting bored with the whole zombie thing, the OPs idea is fucking awesome but games really need to think whether it's going for zombies or no zombies, no fucking zombie DLC

 

[JediMB]

Mirror's Edge was never really about the plot, and the whole idea of runners was probably due to the fact that there isn't a recognisable free runner for EA to publish EA Sports Jumpy McFly Parkour and have the whole game just be about running around doing tricks.

You don't give DICE enough credit...

I think I do. Pure Time Trials was everything good about Mirror's Edge with none of the bad. PTT didn't have any plot.

I was referring more to the "EA Sports Jumpy McFly Parkour" thing.

Good or not (subjective), DICE made Mirror's Edge because that's the game they wanted to make. They're not EA license slaves. (And, frankly, EA have been a lot more willing to take risks with original IPs in recent years.)

 

[Layz92]

It's an alright idea. I think you've gone a bit too complicated with it. Simply merging the "Free Running" aspect of Mirror's Edge with any team-based multiplayer FPS is a good idea. Imagine TF2 where you can run across walls and slide down guy wires.

There is no reason to make it as complicated as you have, and from a design perspective it's more work than is necessary for pay off.

It's in the works

It sounds interesting but to be honest I just don't like zombies. As I always say couldn't it be a skeleton horde or some wights or something. Some ancient cthulian monstrosity maybe.

 

[binvjoh]

That would make Hunter-like enemies really friggin scary.

 

[JoshGod]

Sounds like a sandbox game i would enjoy! Although a differnt name might help.

 

[tris4992]

go speak to you're lawyer RIGHT NOW and get a patent on this idea

 

[Hyper-space]

After playing Mirror's Edge time trials and thinking how nice it was not to be herded by security and police gunfire, it occurred to me that the panic and frustration would actually be suitable for a survival horror game.

Mirror's Edge was never really about the plot, and the whole idea of runners was probably due to the fact that there isn't a recognisable free runner for EA to publish EA Sports Jumpy McFly Parkour and have the whole game just be about running around doing tricks. It just doesn't make that much sense, and you put up with the idea because at least it's something new and the gameplay is different.

But let's look at a Zombie apocalypse situation. Survivors are holed up in refugee camps, with zombies all around them, so they're in a siege situation where they can't win. They need supplies, but the routes out are entirely blocked. Enter some free runners, they're able to take routes the zombies can't follow and are fast enough to dodge them. Their job? To go to zombie infested areas that have supplies, and bring them back. While they're at it, they can kill some zombies.

You're also not working alone. You can't do tricks while carrying anything heavy, so you'd have teams working together, a couple scouts who go ahead to make sure areas are clear, some carriers who are packing supplies - who can still run and climb but are slowed down - and some guards - runners who are a bit better at fighting and can protect the carriers. Naturally they sometimes need to just dump the supplies somewhere and run, so if that happens you go back and pick it up later.

Obviously the engine needs some tweaking, I don't think I'd leave it to Valve to do either, but Brink might be a pretty good example. Having versus multiplayer L4D style where you've got infected runners who are just as capable and agile would also get interesting. Having to do supply runs with hunters would get a lot harder.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

My mental image of this isn't so much Left 4 Dead or Mirror's Edge but more Assassin's Creed which I think would work a bit better. The first-person free running thing was a cool idea but didn't seem to...work. Then again I've never been great at platformers so nevermind my anti-FPFR attitude.

 

[migo]

There very much is a problem with first person free running and lack of any proprioceptive feedback. The game would have to take that into account.

Third person always brings in the problem of camera angles, which can never be solved in a fully free roaming environment (although on rooftops it wouldn't be a big problem).

I think first person certainly helps for a survival horror type vibe, as you can't see what's behind you, with third person you can.

I think first person could very well work if the AI is smarter, and unlike Mirror's Edge you don't stop dead when your shoulder brushes a pipe.