Survival Horror on a Cruise Ship

[demalo]

Sell the idea, or collaborate, with Double Fine. Make it Horror/Adventure point and click with some FPS aspects. Would be interesting to start in FPS mode and then be forced into the 3rd person cinematic point and click (which would be easier for people to handle rather than the first person controls). But you could have levels that force you back to FPS, like someone else said about sensory modes where you're bumping around listening to sounds (though that may be difficult), though the different types of cameras (x-ray, infrared, ultraviolet, etc.) would be interesting.

Still wondering why the guy couldn't grab a networked wireless camera and strap it to his head so he can see in the first person again. This is a cyberpunk world where he's got neural network connections in his head, there should be wireless cameras he could strap on. Maybe that could be a level, he finds the wireless camera, straps it on, completes the level and then it gets smashed, fries, or the battery runs out.

 

[liquidsteel49]

Well I know which game I am getting now. The Experiement. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't get this other untitled steampunk cruiseship game if and when it comes out.

 

[liquidsteel49]

Well I know which game I am getting now. The Experiement. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't get this other untitled steampunk cruiseship game if and when it comes out.

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

Could it be that there's a GOOD use of third-person controls in modern PC gaming?

...After spending far more time than I ever wanted staring at Batman's arse in "Arkham Asylum", and wondering why the hell my character constantly shot down into the ground whenever I raised the camera high enough to see what the hell I was actually supposed to be shooting at in GTA3, I'm tempted to say "No. No there isn't." But I'm not totally opposed to the idea.

I just get the feeling that if this game were made and Yahtzee reviewed it, he'd give it props for uniqueness but end up pointing out that it doesn't work in practice, "Mindjack" - style.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

Awesome modification there!
Not sure about the handheld camera, but the blueprint and the first person view mixed with camera information (like a flashlight) is genius.

Thanks, man. The camera was mostly for those areas that don't have cameras and might also have monsters in them. Sure, you can see the blueprints, and if you're moving through a crawlspace there probably won't be any debris in your way, but if you're walking through and you suddenly hear something in front/behind you...

...come to think of it, that could just be a great horror mechanic: you can't see your enemies in certain areas and have to rely on the sounds they make to know where they are. Maybe a replacement for the camera could be some sort of echolocation device. You can use it to modify the blueprints by sensing where debris are, and you can use it in a pinch to show you where monsters are...for the moment, at least. I imagine it'd be a one-use item or some other mechanic to limit use, but that's thought for later.

I wonder if implementing that game would be though ? You would have to make a shader that use spot light mechanic as texture shader funny...

I don't pretend to know a lot about programming, but it seems like the 'light' provided by cameras would be reasonably easy to pull off because it isn't actual light. You don't have to deal with making things appear to be partially lit or in the shadows around the borders: one side is visible, and the other is not, with a very definite line between the two.

 

[repeating integers]

Don't like the sound of it, I'm afraid. It sounds far too awkward and annoying to control.

 

[Phaeton99]

Given how dull and repetitive "survival horror" has become as a genre, this "Untitled Cyberpunk Cruise Ship Game" concept could actually be the fresh and unnerving tact required to remind people what the experience of contextual uncertainty and fear should be. And the followup "Dark Harvest" expansion sounds like a blast, too. >

Seriously, if I had the means, I would fund its development... though maybe Kickstarter would be a better source. Surely, there are people in the world (with actual access to funds and an interest in games that feed their phobias ) who would back it.... if it were to be actually made, of course.

 

[Sewer Rat]

This actually sounds like a good idea, I would pay good money for it. It must be made!

 

[cricket chirps]

Ok, now Mr.Croshaw, i would like you to go get an indie fund started. Maybe the way Tim Schaffer just did *wink wink nudge nudge.*

Then go hire some aspiring game designers, coders, modelers, you get the works.

After all that you go and create this game, and put it on steam.

At last, low and behold, you will have become the new game director everyone follows maniacly for another release.

Sound like a plan? Good, now get to it.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

Someone MUST have mentioned that Resident Evil: Revelations is the THIRD RESIDENT EVIL GAME TO TAKE PLACE ON A CRUISE SHIP. Gaiden, Dead Aim, and now Revelations. What do they have against cruises, anyways? Yeah, the hallways are three feet wide, but there's buffets and gambling!

 

[latenightapplepie]

That sounds amazing!

 

[MikePeck]

It sounds like sorta like the bits in Psychonauts where you use telepathy to navigate and fight, only you'd be in it 24/7. An interesting mechanic that could be awesome, so long as the camera didn't actively fight the user.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Nobody's going to post this? No? Okay then.


[small](yeah, Peter Griffin etc)[/small]

Now... I'm not a survival horror fan, but that theoretical game sounds far too interesting to miss. Shame about the 'theoretical' part, really.

 

[Spookimitsu]

Was I the only one to play Resident Evil: Dead Aim? on the ps2 I distinctly remember it was a fun experience.... Never thought I'd play RE with a guncon but guess what it:

was Set on a cruise ship and,
switches between 1st & 3rd person perspectives

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Ghost in the Shell meets Silent Hill on a spooky cruise ship?
Hell yeah i'd buy that.

 

[Scrustle]

Apart from the FPS controls and the manual of switching of cameras, it sounds like a pretty cool idea. I especially like the part about not knowing if what you're killing are actually zombies or real people. That's a cool twist. But that control and camera stuff sounds like a really stupid and pointless idea.

 

[annoyinglizardvoice]

Interesting idea. I'd give it a try.

 

[Pebkio]

It sounds fun, very consistent theme and I like the part about how it might not even be real... and it's not a dream sequence or something. However I don't think I could get past the awkwardness of controlling an avatar first-person style from a fixed third-person perspective; especially when using a fixed-camera.

Huh, I have a visitor, hold on...

 

[w00tage]

Nice design, I'd only want a toggle for the camera follow so it could be automatic as you explore physically (or run like heck) and manual as you search / manipulate the environment.

 

[TurkeyProphet]

I can see a lot of potential for the idea but I think you might be so detached that it would no longer be scary and I also feel the cameras would be too conveniently placed a bit like those found footage films and it would make the whole experience feel fake.

I'd be most interested in seeing all the ways the camera gimmick could be used to create fear. A room with flickering lights would become much more hostile. Not being able to see the whole room and having to control the character through what the camera can see in the mirror to do something in the corner of the room. A lens with a smudge on it. Some rooms with night vision.

To be honest though I think the game would be a lot more fun if you simply played an evil virus controlling the ship and you had to use the environment to kill the passengers without raising suspicion.