Ways a WW1 game could work

[almostgold]

So as an earlier post pointed out, whenever someone mentions making a game about WW1, every jumps on him pointing out unduck and shoot gameplay in a trench wouldnt be fun. Others point out the lack of 'good' weapons. There are other complaints as well. So just post alternatives you think could be used for a WW1 game instead of trench warfare, or ways trench warfare could be made to work.
To get things rolling, heres a idea I posted in the aforementioned thread (before I realized the point of the thread was completely different):

WW1 is ripe for gameplay. For one, read up about the pilots during the war. Its facinating stuff. Originally, before they perfected machine guns that could shoot through the propellers, air to air combat was done- no joke- with the pilots holding pistols or rifles and trying to shoot other pilots. If you wanted to drop a bomb, you wingman had a bomb in his lap and literally just dropped it out the side of the plane. Later the interrupter gear was developed, allowing the planes to have forward firing machine guns. Of course, the main point of planes were reconnaissance. Pilots lived an almost nomad-like life, landing in the country side, hiding the plane, finding the nearest friendlies, and refuelling before returning to base.

Now tell me that wouldn't be an awesome game. Part Beyond Good and Evil (photography), part flight simulator, part first person shooter, part stealth (landing behind enemy lines and avoiding capture).

Additionally, there was some fighting done outside trenches obviuosly. Most soldiers participated in a raid at least once, but some commanders did nothing but raid the enemy trenches at night, which would be fun. To give you an idea of what that gameplay would be like, consider: if you party met an enemy party in no man's land, you couldnt use guns. The noise and flash would send every machine gunner on both sides of the line to light your area up. You had to kill the entire enemy party with you bare hands.

So, ways a WW1 game could work.

 

[Spiner909]

You made some good points there. First off- trench battles have to be kept to a minimum. They just aren't very action-y.

Next point= stealth must be a strong point of the game, like sneaking behind enemy lines to cut wires or sabotage ammo dumps.

I think a cool section would be to be a plane bomber/gunner , or a tank gunner/driver. Even an artillery operator. The camera would follow the bombs, it could be quite intense. Imagine the joy of headshotting an enemy pilot with a pistol in one hand while flying a place in the other hand!

In conclusion, the only way for it to succeed would be to vary the missions as widely as possible, while keeping the game at a good length. Not sure a multiplayer would work though. With only bolt actions and vehicles...hm.

 

[almostgold]

My worry would be that a developer would go for too much variety. Like if you played as maybe two characters of different roles that would be just about right. But in order to encompass all the non-trench aspects of the war it would feel too schizophrenic, jumping from one type of gameplay to the next. Also, badass idea about the artillery gunner.

Another gameplay element that would be interesting is poison gas. After an area was gassed, it was fatal to take cover in craters. The gas would settle in the lowest points- craters. This would be interesting because in most games, bomb craters provide excellent cover (possibly even in the same game: during a bombardment, new craters were the safest place to be, by 'lightning never strikes the same place twice' logic. The way the landscape would change depending on the situation would be interesting)

 

[Trenchmonkey]

This is a very loose idea, but maybe there could be some sort of mix between action-oriented first-person shooting sections followed by a "general mode" in which the game goes into an RTS looking view and the player can organize for the next battle by enlisting different types of troops, ordering ammo and provisions, designing directions of trenches, and other things like that.

As for the battles themselves, it would be hard to not make it so you don't die every twenty seconds.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Set it on Christmas Day and make it a German v Britain v Fance football sim.

 

[almostgold]

This is a very loose idea, but maybe there could be some sort of mix between action-oriented first-person shooting sections followed by a "general mode" in which the game goes into an RTS looking view and the player can organize for the next battle by enlisting different types of troops, ordering ammo and provisions, designing directions of trenches, and other things like that.

As for the battles themselves, it would be hard to not make it so you don't die every twenty seconds.

Thats actually an alright idea. The higher ranking officers fought in the trenches too. Maybe it would never go overhead, you would just play first person as alike a Major the whole game? If you point at an area and press a button, a little list pops up of commands relating to it (build trench too.., charge, bombard, ammo drop). You have to fight you way across the lines periodically to issue commands to soldiers on the fringes of the battle, or relieve them from duty. Just my spin on your idea (I've never been one for small-scale rts)

 

[koeniginator]

We need an WWI zombie game.

 

[almostgold]

We need an WWI zombie game.

We need any zombie game. Also a velociraptor game. Such an tragically unexplored genre.

 

[Zetsubou]

You could also focus on America's involvement (guess who digs no trenches?) or even have a "pointless death scene" like in CoD4. Being one to die in a wave sent over, lying among the wounded, blood saturating the ground and moans filling the air. Yeah.

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

My worry would be that a developer would go for too much variety. Like if you played as maybe two characters of different roles that would be just about right. But in order to encompass all the non-trench aspects of the war it would feel too schizophrenic, jumping from one type of gameplay to the next. Also, badass idea about the artillery gunner.

Another gameplay element that would be interesting is poison gas. After an area was gassed, it was fatal to take cover in craters. The gas would settle in the lowest points- craters. This would be interesting because in most games, bomb craters provide excellent cover (possibly even in the same game: during a bombardment, new craters were the safest place to be, by 'lightning never strikes the same place twice' logic. The way the landscape would change depending on the situation would be interesting)

Well you could make it so they have a mission, but the player chooses whether to be a pilot, a sabteur or an artillery bloke.

 

[Katana314]

Actually, there is one game based on WW1; but it takes place just before it, and is an adventure game about an arms shipment deal gone wrong that incites the war. It's called The Last Express, made by the Prince of Persia guy, Jordan Mechner.

You definitely made good points about the pilots. Still, I wonder if fictionalizing the war at least a bit might help. ie, to make any ground combat more interesting, have you do stuff behind enemy lines. I also wonder if fictionalizing would help to the point Inglorious Basterds did it; have the war end differently to make for a good story.

 

[WolfThomas]

Spoiler: A few ideas of mine I've salvaged from the 26 page long thread a few months ago (accidentally necro-ing it in the process)

Here's how I think it could be done, a combination of scripted scenes, but mostly procedurally generated stuff.

The game would start with a pretty standard tutorial, learning how to use rifles, grenades etc. But emphasizing the rigid social structure at the time and the colonial jingoism at the start "tut, tut the war will be over by christmas and we won't have given the kraut a sufficient walloping". You'd probably be a reserve officer or something, fresh faced and straight out of school.

The first mission would be heavily scripted, you getting ready to go over the top for a charge. The atmosphere would be incredibly tense, from the music, the soldiers muttering and the sound of artillery fire. You'd feel scared of going over the top.

Then you'd leap over and run through no man's land while machine guns and artillery obliterate everyone around you horrifically, not a cinematic but rather if you bother to turn to the left you'll see a couple of men ripped to pieces by machine gun fire. Eventually a shell would land near you and you'd pass out.

You'd awake in hospital for a brief moment before it blacks out.

Now the bulk of the game would be about a single large area, your lines (+ no man's land and the germans) and perhaps the nearest village you billet at while on rest.

The game would a fps with rpg elements like STALKER, there'd be NPCs from officers who'd issue you orders, to supply clerks or medical officers who ask you favours (like bringing them so much of x) and just soldiers with great accents and funny senses of humour.

At your lines you'd be able to walk around reasonably safely, you'd have to be careful and crouch through sniper trouble spots, wade through the muck with rats and every now and then you'd hear the crump of artillery and have to seek cover or hit the bottom of the trench.

No man's land would be ever changing and initially very frightening, but eventually you'd begin to learn safe spots, good sniper vantages and the quickest routes as you went out on night patrols. It would change each sometimes not by much, at other times huge differences. Every now and then a flare would go up illuminating the whole area before fading leaving it darker then it was before until your eye readjust.

Missions would consist of repelling German attacks (sometimes fighting in the trenches), assisting artillery and mortars, sniping the German lines, scouting no man's land, ambushing patrols in no man's land, retrieving wounded and dead, and off course attacking the enemie's line.

You wouldn't go over the top often in an all out assault, but you'd dread every time, sometimes you'd be successful and hold a trench, until your relieved or ordered to pull out, but inevitably you'd lose it, and often you'd get wounded/die. When you got killed in game, you'd later wake up in hospital being told you'd been bravely rescued or dragged back. If this happened too many times the game would end with you being sent home crippled or actually dieing and you'd have reload a save or checkpoint.

After every "big show" npcs you'd gotten to know might be crippled/dead, this would be random and depend on what happened in the fight. You might hate certain officers and almost be happy when they bought the farm or change your opinion about them when they do something amazingly heroic. A NPC you like might make you think of doing something risky in the hope of saving them. A wounded NPC might right you letters from hospital or from home if they are crippled.

As the war progressed the nature of combat would adapt, you'd eventually have plane and tank support.

Weapon wise you'd be able to carry three type of weapon:

Primary:
Simple bolt action rifle (both English and German) and would have the advantage of a bayonet
Scoped bolt action rifle
Lewis Gun (later in the game)
Double barreled shotgun (perhaps as award for side questions)
Pump action shot gun (side quest)
Anti-tank rifle (agains later in game)
BAR rifle (later)
Prototype submachine guns (sidequest + later in game)

Secondary
Webley revolver
Mauser semi-automatic or a Luger(captured from Germans)
Colt 1911 (later in war)

Melee:
Bayonet
Bowie knife (captured from germans)
Cosh (steel rod rapped in leather favoured by English)
Improvised trench clubs
Officer's swords
Sharpened shovels
and more stuff

Your pistol and melee could be used together at times. You could also carry a couple of grenades.

A heavy element of combat would be the melee side, either a brutal scuffle in the confined space of a trench or silent killing in the dark of no man's land. You'd be able to perform melee attack like elbowing and kicking like in condemned also.

The gun play wouldn't necessarily be slow paced, I mean Call of Juarez make even older and slower weapons quite exciting. Player would have to get to trying to be accurate and maintain cover before closing in violently with bayonet or shovel.

I should also mention gas and disease. If pushed though gas would create in game, impassible spots in no man's land and another thing you have to worry about on your lines, you'd have to run get a crude gas mask or something.

Disease, could be mentioned quite often (by medical officers, NCOs etc), but would be harder to implement in the actual play. At most things like trench foot and respiratory infection could be implemented as restrictions to running speed, health etc. But anything worse might have to skip by your character, for the shake of maintaining the story.

I've also been thinking that environment having effects on your clothing could be implemented quite well. You start each day with a pristine (well at least cleaner) seat of clothes, each time you hit the dirt and land in mud, the clothing gets dirty, can get torn when going through wire and bloodstained in combat.

Also another cool idea is once you finish the game, you can play it all over again as Germans, playing all the same areas from a different direction.

 

[almostgold]

Spoiler: A few ideas of mine I've salvaged from the 26 page long thread a few months ago (accidentally necro-ing it in the process)

Here's how I think it could be done, a combination of scripted scenes, but mostly procedurally generated stuff.

The game would start with a pretty standard tutorial, learning how to use rifles, grenades etc. But emphasizing the rigid social structure at the time and the colonial jingoism at the start "tut, tut the war will be over by christmas and we won't have given the kraut a sufficient walloping". You'd probably be a reserve officer or something, fresh faced and straight out of school.

The first mission would be heavily scripted, you getting ready to go over the top for a charge. The atmosphere would be incredibly tense, from the music, the soldiers muttering and the sound of artillery fire. You'd feel scared of going over the top.

Then you'd leap over and run through no man's land while machine guns and artillery obliterate everyone around you horrifically, not a cinematic but rather if you bother to turn to the left you'll see a couple of men ripped to pieces by machine gun fire. Eventually a shell would land near you and you'd pass out.

You'd awake in hospital for a brief moment before it blacks out.

Now the bulk of the game would be about a single large area, your lines (+ no man's land and the germans) and perhaps the nearest village you billet at while on rest.

The game would a fps with rpg elements like STALKER, there'd be NPCs from officers who'd issue you orders, to supply clerks or medical officers who ask you favours (like bringing them so much of x) and just soldiers with great accents and funny senses of humour.

At your lines you'd be able to walk around reasonably safely, you'd have to be careful and crouch through sniper trouble spots, wade through the muck with rats and every now and then you'd hear the crump of artillery and have to seek cover or hit the bottom of the trench.

No man's land would be ever changing and initially very frightening, but eventually you'd begin to learn safe spots, good sniper vantages and the quickest routes as you went out on night patrols. It would change each sometimes not by much, at other times huge differences. Every now and then a flare would go up illuminating the whole area before fading leaving it darker then it was before until your eye readjust.

Missions would consist of repelling German attacks (sometimes fighting in the trenches), assisting artillery and mortars, sniping the German lines, scouting no man's land, ambushing patrols in no man's land, retrieving wounded and dead, and off course attacking the enemie's line.

You wouldn't go over the top often in an all out assault, but you'd dread every time, sometimes you'd be successful and hold a trench, until your relieved or ordered to pull out, but inevitably you'd lose it, and often you'd get wounded/die. When you got killed in game, you'd later wake up in hospital being told you'd been bravely rescued or dragged back. If this happened too many times the game would end with you being sent home crippled or actually dieing and you'd have reload a save or checkpoint.

After every "big show" npcs you'd gotten to know might be crippled/dead, this would be random and depend on what happened in the fight. You might hate certain officers and almost be happy when they bought the farm or change your opinion about them when they do something amazingly heroic. A NPC you like might make you think of doing something risky in the hope of saving them. A wounded NPC might right you letters from hospital or from home if they are crippled.

As the war progressed the nature of combat would adapt, you'd eventually have plane and tank support.

Weapon wise you'd be able to carry three type of weapon:

Primary:
Simple bolt action rifle (both English and German) and would have the advantage of a bayonet
Scoped bolt action rifle
Lewis Gun (later in the game)
Double barreled shotgun (perhaps as award for side questions)
Pump action shot gun (side quest)
Anti-tank rifle (agains later in game)
BAR rifle (later)
Prototype submachine guns (sidequest + later in game)

Secondary
Webley revolver
Mauser semi-automatic or a Luger(captured from Germans)
Colt 1911 (later in war)

Melee:
Bayonet
Bowie knife (captured from germans)
Cosh (steel rod rapped in leather favoured by English)
Improvised trench clubs
Officer's swords
Sharpened shovels
and more stuff

Your pistol and melee could be used together at times. You could also carry a couple of grenades.

A heavy element of combat would be the melee side, either a brutal scuffle in the confined space of a trench or silent killing in the dark of no man's land. You'd be able to perform melee attack like elbowing and kicking like in condemned also.

The gun play wouldn't necessarily be slow paced, I mean Call of Juarez make even older and slower weapons quite exciting. Player would have to get to trying to be accurate and maintain cover before closing in violently with bayonet or shovel.

I should also mention gas and disease. If pushed though gas would create in game, impassible spots in no man's land and another thing you have to worry about on your lines, you'd have to run get a crude gas mask or something.

Disease, could be mentioned quite often (by medical officers, NCOs etc), but would be harder to implement in the actual play. At most things like trench foot and respiratory infection could be implemented as restrictions to running speed, health etc. But anything worse might have to skip by your character, for the shake of maintaining the story.

I've also been thinking that environment having effects on your clothing could be implemented quite well. You start each day with a pristine (well at least cleaner) seat of clothes, each time you hit the dirt and land in mud, the clothing gets dirty, can get torn when going through wire and bloodstained in combat.

Also another cool idea is once you finish the game, you can play it all over again as Germans, playing all the same areas from a different direction.

I like it. I hadn't even thought about sniping in WW1. I'm not very familiar with it. Didn't they use Springfield bolt-actions? Have to check up on that....

I'm really curious how the no-man's land would work. My idea is that it would be a slow and dangerous affair, beginning with countersniping action and bombardments ( you controlling both of those characters) followed by a crawl through as a Captain leading a raiding party. Any gunshots would cause machine gunners on both sides to begin randomly strafing the area with fire, creating an almost mini-game like sequence where you have to avoid the shots without still being seen. This hand to hand combat would create some interesting situations, such as preventing the last player alive on the enemy team firing his sidearm wildly to cause MGs to take notice (imagine the multiplayer potential of this whole situation. Sniping, counter-sniping, artillery, stealth, raids. Wow) Also, I have a specific scripted sequence in mind for your first such raid: you encounter an enemy force and brutal melee combat ensures. A scripted sequence sets in play where you have to kill a enemy soldiers with your bare hands, strangling him to death (hold down melee button). Your commander yells at you to keep your head down and a bombardment follows. For the next minute, you your face is locked inches from the young Germans face, which gradually becomes younger and more innocent looking. Right as this is at its climax, an ally runs up, brutally kicks the German boys body aside, and pulls you up to tell you to keep running.

 

[AddytheGreat]

If they felt like including a multiplayer mode (why wouldn?t they?) it could be somewhat like Starwars Battlefront. The first one that is, where you could jump in a space ship and fly around the map, except in a plane. Three basic classes, pilot, infantry, and saboteur, and have three sub classes. Could be fun.

 

[FolkLikePanda]

i would say a Vehicular Combat/Stealth/FPS/RTS/Dogfight type of game where all of these elements are mixed together and are seperate sections of the game.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Awww, this reminds me of a PS2 game I used to play at my friend's house. there was one multiplayer level, with an 'Over the top!' part... so fun. oh, I loved playing that...

 

[Bob the Average]

I'd say you could do a game as a light tank commander. it wouldn't be fast paced (top speed was like 10 MPH) but it could be a pretty fun almost strategy like game.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Spoiler: A few ideas of mine I've salvaged from the 26 page long thread a few months ago (accidentally necro-ing it in the process)

Here's how I think it could be done, a combination of scripted scenes, but mostly procedurally generated stuff.

The game would start with a pretty standard tutorial, learning how to use rifles, grenades etc. But emphasizing the rigid social structure at the time and the colonial jingoism at the start "tut, tut the war will be over by christmas and we won't have given the kraut a sufficient walloping". You'd probably be a reserve officer or something, fresh faced and straight out of school.

The first mission would be heavily scripted, you getting ready to go over the top for a charge. The atmosphere would be incredibly tense, from the music, the soldiers muttering and the sound of artillery fire. You'd feel scared of going over the top.

Then you'd leap over and run through no man's land while machine guns and artillery obliterate everyone around you horrifically, not a cinematic but rather if you bother to turn to the left you'll see a couple of men ripped to pieces by machine gun fire. Eventually a shell would land near you and you'd pass out.

You'd awake in hospital for a brief moment before it blacks out.

Now the bulk of the game would be about a single large area, your lines (+ no man's land and the germans) and perhaps the nearest village you billet at while on rest.

The game would a fps with rpg elements like STALKER, there'd be NPCs from officers who'd issue you orders, to supply clerks or medical officers who ask you favours (like bringing them so much of x) and just soldiers with great accents and funny senses of humour.

At your lines you'd be able to walk around reasonably safely, you'd have to be careful and crouch through sniper trouble spots, wade through the muck with rats and every now and then you'd hear the crump of artillery and have to seek cover or hit the bottom of the trench.

No man's land would be ever changing and initially very frightening, but eventually you'd begin to learn safe spots, good sniper vantages and the quickest routes as you went out on night patrols. It would change each sometimes not by much, at other times huge differences. Every now and then a flare would go up illuminating the whole area before fading leaving it darker then it was before until your eye readjust.

Missions would consist of repelling German attacks (sometimes fighting in the trenches), assisting artillery and mortars, sniping the German lines, scouting no man's land, ambushing patrols in no man's land, retrieving wounded and dead, and off course attacking the enemie's line.

You wouldn't go over the top often in an all out assault, but you'd dread every time, sometimes you'd be successful and hold a trench, until your relieved or ordered to pull out, but inevitably you'd lose it, and often you'd get wounded/die. When you got killed in game, you'd later wake up in hospital being told you'd been bravely rescued or dragged back. If this happened too many times the game would end with you being sent home crippled or actually dieing and you'd have reload a save or checkpoint.

After every "big show" npcs you'd gotten to know might be crippled/dead, this would be random and depend on what happened in the fight. You might hate certain officers and almost be happy when they bought the farm or change your opinion about them when they do something amazingly heroic. A NPC you like might make you think of doing something risky in the hope of saving them. A wounded NPC might right you letters from hospital or from home if they are crippled.

As the war progressed the nature of combat would adapt, you'd eventually have plane and tank support.

Weapon wise you'd be able to carry three type of weapon:

Primary:
Simple bolt action rifle (both English and German) and would have the advantage of a bayonet
Scoped bolt action rifle
Lewis Gun (later in the game)
Double barreled shotgun (perhaps as award for side questions)
Pump action shot gun (side quest)
Anti-tank rifle (agains later in game)
BAR rifle (later)
Prototype submachine guns (sidequest + later in game)

Secondary
Webley revolver
Mauser semi-automatic or a Luger(captured from Germans)
Colt 1911 (later in war)

Melee:
Bayonet
Bowie knife (captured from germans)
Cosh (steel rod rapped in leather favoured by English)
Improvised trench clubs
Officer's swords
Sharpened shovels
and more stuff

Your pistol and melee could be used together at times. You could also carry a couple of grenades.

A heavy element of combat would be the melee side, either a brutal scuffle in the confined space of a trench or silent killing in the dark of no man's land. You'd be able to perform melee attack like elbowing and kicking like in condemned also.

The gun play wouldn't necessarily be slow paced, I mean Call of Juarez make even older and slower weapons quite exciting. Player would have to get to trying to be accurate and maintain cover before closing in violently with bayonet or shovel.

I should also mention gas and disease. If pushed though gas would create in game, impassible spots in no man's land and another thing you have to worry about on your lines, you'd have to run get a crude gas mask or something.

Disease, could be mentioned quite often (by medical officers, NCOs etc), but would be harder to implement in the actual play. At most things like trench foot and respiratory infection could be implemented as restrictions to running speed, health etc. But anything worse might have to skip by your character, for the shake of maintaining the story.

I've also been thinking that environment having effects on your clothing could be implemented quite well. You start each day with a pristine (well at least cleaner) seat of clothes, each time you hit the dirt and land in mud, the clothing gets dirty, can get torn when going through wire and bloodstained in combat.

Also another cool idea is once you finish the game, you can play it all over again as Germans, playing all the same areas from a different direction.

This and the OP's Pilot idea are the greatest. I see the OP's pilot idea playing out as a kind of sandboxy game like the Saboteur.

WW1 is also one of the few wars you could have a turnbased Strategy RPG and it would be almost realistic.

 

[almostgold]

I'm still giddy about the opportunities that WW1 aviation presents. In my perfect world there would be a game based around that concept (dogfights from planes with sidearms, photography of enemy positions, etc) where eventually you crash land, at which point you try to make it across enemy territory in stealth-like gameplay, while a secondary campaign has you playing as an infantry commander, eventually leading a small force through the enemy lines, with the intention of rescuing a certain downed pilot with important information...

EDIT: Oh damn, did I use the word 'giddy' in my post? Wow. I guess I did. Shit.

 

[Omikron009]

I think a world war 1 real time tactical game could work, but only if done right. It would be EXTREMELY difficult, all about perfecting and flawlessly executing a plan to capture an enemy position. The kind of game that where you could lose an entire force if you make one mistake, turning it into something like a complex board game with animations. I dunno.