A thieving/robbery simulator in modern day, with various areas where you can do special missions or jobs and 'sand box theft'.
Your character is customizable, as are your clothes and tools of the trade. In fact, buying different clothes, wigs, etc. can be essential. For example, wearing a disposable balaclava or ski-mask and tossing it is a situation where your character might want to wear a wig to ensure he doesn't leave evidence. But you don't start off with all this, you start off with different skills depending on what made you a thief in the first place. Could be a demented "hobby", could be being laid off, or whatnot. These will help determine your starting skills and base statistics. These are somewhat abstract representations of qualities like endurance, or jumping height, swinging power, manual dexterity, etc.
Sandbox thefts are basically robbing people's homes or pickpocketing them. If you're caught pickpocketing you might be able to play it off, attack them or run like hell. Robbery is a bit more complicated, and you use your surroundings to drive and park a getaway car. Stealing a car is an option, but is complicated. It is only good for maybe 10 or 20 game minutes before your license plate is given to every cop around, so find a paintshop fast, get fake plates, and eventually you might need forged proofs of ownerships. Police won't 'forget' you like in GTA, either, so hiding for a bit from a more serious crime could call down a manhunt.
Lockpicking is a minigame of sorts, there is a close up of the lock and you choose what tool to use. A probe, for example, can help find the tumblers and such to line up the picking. Carelessness means a jammed lock. What to do then? Find another entrance, hopefully. If you can't, you could try to bash the door open or open it by force with a crowbar. An attached lock could be destroyed. Houses are randomly generated once and some will be easier than others. A top story window open, for example.
Jobs are a bit trickier. They will be in more complex and well-guarded buildings. Often there'll be personal security, or security companies. Alarms will alert them, as well as police. The more alarms, the faster the police will arrive. Generally, though, you have around 15 minutes before the first cop car shows up. Your character can be a bruiser, but that won't help against a dedicated personal security squad. Avoiding guards, distracting them, or even knocking them unconscious or killing them. Beware, though. The more violence the more the police will want to find you. Criminal value can be determined by using a computer and looking for the price you've got on you. The cleaner, the better and you might even be able to keep some items you don't wish to sell. Items like a television set (If you're a bit stronger, of course. That's fairly heavy to carry around quickly.) are safe, but vases, or other things obviously stolen generate heat. Your character's sum of personability could help him if the police track him down, but if he looks like the picture and description they've got of him it won't matter. The first couple times, a bribe might help them look away if your heat is relatively low, but if you've got a treasure trove even an average policeman won't turn away. Competent Private Investigators and FBI agents are untouchable, though. You won't bribe them because of character, loyalty, cash promised, or a combination of these and other reasons.
As you travel from city to city and safehouse to safehouse, you might get different investigative agencies on you. INTERPOL, for example, if you've had a romp through Europe, which will follow you. The CIA could give chase if the FBI don't get you. Warnings given for major heists often give much much higher respect, but also difficulty and heat. Hitpoints are based on endurance, tolerance, and muscle mass. You can be a lean, dapper cat burglar, or a large brawler of a robber depending on your playstyle. This could also restrict what items you can realistically steal, large items cannot be pocketed or put in a sack or backpack. A TV, or something else large must be carried, and this will sap your strength and stamina which will regenerate by dropping it (If you run out without deciding to drop it, it'll fall with a crash. This could even break electronic items), a bar of sorts determined mostly by muscle. The brawler, though would have quite a bit more trouble squeezing into those hard to reach places and be more suspected. It is harder to hide a large physique than a smaller one, and being very strong and following people generates suspicion, obviously. Some clothes may not fit if your character is too muscular or too fat, and may need to be re-tailored. Colors affect visibility to a degree, a large man in a neon pink hoodie is a bit more visible than a leaner fellow in a black suit.
Controls will probably be reminiscent of Hitman:Blood Money, with a first person component similar to Thief. Just because it's first person, though, doesn't mean it's a shooter. Go in spraying and unless you're lucky and have an automatic weapon and they don't see it coming, you're probably dead. You have about as much health as they do, but people won't shoot you on sight unless the stakes are high, you've been tagged as a threat, the police are practically para-military or criminal themselves and you've been identified, or your wanted level is very high. (In Hitman, it seems, the price for a valet running down the corridors is death for baldness.)
What do you guys think?
, what do you guys think?
