Why oh why haven't game-creators done this yet?

[lacktheknack]

A really fresh take on chess. It is such a popular turn based game there must be some ways to improve it while keeping to a turn based system.

http://www.chessvariants.org/

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/313/e/3/circle_chess_by_solidium-d32g3mn.png

OT: To this day, I cannot find a game where you play a ghost haunting a house.

I had actually started experimenting with a game that would let you do that, but then Neil Gaiman decided he'd make one. So now it's a race between me and him to claim the "I THOUGHT OF IT FIRST" crown (he'll win, I think).

"The Haunting: Starring Poulterguy" for the Sega Genesis.

BOOM.

Now, if only I had a Sega Genesis.

www.ssega.com

Enjoy ^_^

Whoa.

I have my doubts that that site is legal. I wonder how long it will last.

 

[Glongpre]

There are some ideas that are so obvious that you can't help but wonder why they don't appear in games. I'm talking things that could easily be done with today's technology but haven't been because, well, because God hates us I guess.

For instance: A game where you play as a pokémon. Preferably in 3D. You know, like Super Mario, or Zelda. My point is that you'd play as, say, a Pikachu, and you'd be able to go around and thundershock and jump all you like. Like in Super Smash Bros. except that you wouldn't be confined to a small stage. Think Super Mario 64 with Pokémon. And obviously there's be more than just one pokémon available to play.

It can't be denied: Pokémon has been around for over a decade, and everyone's been wanting a game like this for a long, long time.

So what game feature, or just what game, are you surprised that they haven't made yet?

You remind me of why they haven't made a Pokemon MMO. Holy crap, the money they could be making right now, it just bottles my mind. My head just exploded from trying to comprehend their thought processes.

 

[Frezzato]

The answer to every question regarding "why hasn't x been made?" is "because you haven't made it yet".

Get to work, you lazy people.

I can tell you were just joking, but still, some nagging part of me can't help but accept the thought that you're right.

 

[Strain42]

For instance: A game where you play as a pokémon. Preferably in 3D. You know, like Super Mario, or Zelda. My point is that you'd play as, say, a Pikachu, and you'd be able to go around and thundershock and jump all you like. Like in Super Smash Bros. except that you wouldn't be confined to a small stage. Think Super Mario 64 with Pokémon. And obviously there's be more than just one pokémon available to play.

It can't be denied: Pokémon has been around for over a decade, and everyone's been wanting a game like this for a long, long time.

That does exist. Look up the Pokepark games for the Wii. That's literally what you just described. It's a big Pokemon sandbox game filled with other Pokemon complete with battles, chase games, obstacle courses. In the sequel you even get to play as the Unova starters too.

They're actually a lot of fun. Some of my favorite Wii games.

Here's some screenshots (they're in Japanese, but both games are available in English)

I checked out a Let's Play with them. I can't put my finger on what it is that I don't like about them, but I think it's the way things are divided into minigames rather than just being one big experience, if that makes any sense. Also, it's the way there doesn't seem to be anything at stake. It's not some huge Big Damn Adventure plot like out of a stereotypical anime.
EDIT: Okay, there actually does seem to be stuff at stake in the second game. Goodie.

The first one had a bigger emphasis on the mini-games, but the sequel actually was pretty heavily story driven (and it wasn't half bad as far as stories go, a little cliche naturally, but coulda been way worse) and they really cut back on the mini games (in the sequel mini games are more like set ups for boss battles. There's only 4 as opposed to the...like...16 or so in the first game)

I still prefer the first one though just based on its control scheme. In the first game, dash and thundershock were different buttons, making it easy to shock someone you were chasing.

In the sequel they share a button, so to use thundershock while dashing after someone you basically have to come to a complete stop first, which kinda defeats the purpose.

Both have their advantages, but they're still both pretty fun games. There is certainly something to the series that I personally really like. I hope they continue it with a Wii U or a 3DS release.

 

[J.McMillen]

There's an old game called Archon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon:_The_Light_and_the_Dark] which does exactly this, blending turn-based strategy with live combat. Archon Ultra was arguably the more fun version, though the Phoenix was ridiculously OP.

Archon is available on Steam (Archon Classic). It's $9.99, but I'm sure it goes on sale for a good discount during the Summer/XMas sale. I use to play this back in the 80's on my old Commodore (64, later 128). Warning, it's easier with a controller, but a keyboard isn't too bad.


As for what I'd like to see, that's simple. If I'm playing a game where there is some sort of bonus for finishing the level without dying (Fortix, Dynamite Jack, etc...), give me an option where if I die, the level AUTOMATICALLY starts over. I'm so tired of getting to the harder levels and when I die I have to go to the menu, select restart, possibly confirm the restart, then start over. Can't we skip these middle steps and just go from die to start over? That shouldn't be that hard to program.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I'd love an AAA take on the Hacking Sim genre. No Open?World elements, but as many adaptable elements from the minutiae associated with hacking as possible.

As much as I can't wait to play Watch Dogs, the hacking elements feel both streamlined and excessively simplified. There should be more to hacking your way into something than just making sure your godly cell phone is in range.

 

[J.McMillen]

I'd love an AAA take on the Hacking Sim genre. No Open?World elements, but as many adaptable elements from the minutiae associated with hacking as possible.

As much as I can't wait to play Watch Dogs, the hacking elements feel both streamlined and excessively simplified. There should be more to hacking your way into something than just making sure your godly cell phone is in range.

Way back in the 80's there was a game called 'Hacker'. The only thing inside the box was a single floppy disk (no manual, which was unusual at the time). When you ran the game, all you got at the start was a black screen with a green 'Logon:' prompt. No clues, no hints, nothing but guesswork. Now once you got in, it played more like a typical hacking video game. But without any hints (and no home internet available), I'm sure some people spent weeks just trying to get into the game. Personally, I'd have scanned the game with a hex editor looking for any plain text that appeared. It wouldn't have been my first time doing that.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Snip.

Way back in the 80's there was a game called 'Hacker'. The only thing inside the box was a single floppy disk (no manual, which was unusual at the time). When you ran the game, all you got at the start was a black screen with a green 'Logon:' prompt. No clues, no hints, nothing but guesswork. Now once you got in, it played more like a typical hacking video game. But without any hints (and no home internet available), I'm sure some people spent weeks just trying to get into the game. Personally, I'd have scanned the game with a hex editor looking for any plain text that appeared. It wouldn't have been my first time doing that.

I've played various renditions of this in the recent past. There's plenty of homebrew Hacker-like freeware programs out there, there's Introversion's "Uplink", there's eXoSyphen's "BS Hacker" and a few other play-alikes; but there's nothing quite like what I'd like to play.

 

[daveman247]

I'm still waiting for my sci-fi sandbox game

We have had ones in nearly every time period now. Red faction was half way there but I want my flying cars damn it!

Doesn't EVE Online count?, there's also games like Darkstar One.

Thats kind of the opposite spectrum to what i'm wanting. I'm thinking a more traditional sandbox game (in a city)rather than a space/ exploration game. In the future with flying cars, overcity/undercity mutants etc. Basically I want the car chase scene from fifth element crossed with judge dredds megacity

 

[Nurzen]

I do kind of wonder how there hasn't been a new Harry Potter game but without Harry Potter.
What I mean is, take the concept of Fable and put it in Hogwarts. A blank slate child with a couple choices growing up, some Diagon Alley gameplay, then the all important sorting. One where you chose the house you were in and that completely changed the story around, allies and enemies could be different. Different prospectives lead to replay value. Of course something big and magical has to happen each year and all. Cant't forget the Quidditch of course. Just Harry Potter without Harry and Voldemort. There's still Death Eaters, Dementors and Dolores Umbridge of course.

Don't know if this is an original thought but it's something i'd really like to see done well. Naturally theres ip issues with using Harry Potter stuff. Still... it could be magical...

 

[Elvis Starburst]

I do kind of wonder how there hasn't been a new Harry Potter game but without Harry Potter.
What I mean is, take the concept of Fable and put it in Hogwarts. A blank slate child with a couple choices growing up, some Diagon Alley gameplay, then the all important sorting. One where you chose the house you were in and that completely changed the story around, allies and enemies could be different. Different prospectives lead to replay value. Of course something big and magical has to happen each year and all. Cant't forget the Quidditch of course. Just Harry Potter without Harry and Voldemort. There's still Death Eaters, Dementors and Dolores Umbridge of course.

Don't know if this is an original thought but it's something i'd really like to see done well. Naturally theres ip issues with using Harry Potter stuff. Still... it could be magical...

That sounds really good, actually. It's been said before, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. I put my vote for this~

 

[J.McMillen]

I do kind of wonder how there hasn't been a new Harry Potter game but without Harry Potter.
What I mean is, take the concept of Fable and put it in Hogwarts. A blank slate child with a couple choices growing up, some Diagon Alley gameplay, then the all important sorting. One where you chose the house you were in and that completely changed the story around, allies and enemies could be different. Different prospectives lead to replay value. Of course something big and magical has to happen each year and all. Cant't forget the Quidditch of course. Just Harry Potter without Harry and Voldemort. There's still Death Eaters, Dementors and Dolores Umbridge of course.

Don't know if this is an original thought but it's something i'd really like to see done well. Naturally theres ip issues with using Harry Potter stuff. Still... it could be magical...

Without Voldemort, there really aren't any Death Eaters running around. Most of them are too busy avoiding suspicion to get up to any good evil. The Dementors are either guarding Azkaban or banished from Briton (depending when the story takes place). And Umbridge got locked up in Azkaban for her crimes against the muggle born.

While I like the basic idea, you'd really need to set it after book 7 and come up with original villains for the character to face. That way you don't step on a very established (and well loved) history, and you have more freedom with the story. Whenever you work within an established universe, you have to make sure not to tick off it's existing fan base by changing things. Otherwise you risk not only losing them as as customers, and the internet backlash they can create.

 

[daveman247]

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times i have been matched up with someone and my colors are too similar to theirs, such as mine is dark blue and theirs is black.

OT I would like a WRPG like Skyrim, but instead of Nordic or European Mythology it would be based off of Eastern Asian Mythology

Ever heard of Jade empire? Not so much like skyrim but KOTOR in a chinese mythology (ghosts, demons etc). Same dev in fact. Really fun game.

 

[daveman247]

I'm still waiting for my sci-fi sandbox game

We have had ones in nearly every time period now. Red faction was half way there but I want my flying cars damn it!

Well not to toot my own horn but... http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=156122770
Sorry that we don't have a million dollars to spend on character animation though.

Can't think of any myself, because the annoying little bug of 'do we have the resources, time, and talent to pull this risky idea off?' Most answers point to 'no', but hey, we were told that we should just "make a simple iPhone game" instead on an open world game.

I was literally typing "I want the car chases from fifth element" to another user and then read this. Spooky

Also the kickstarter for this game ended an hour before I saw it, double spooky and damn it


So you're one of the eight people working on this? Looks like it could be really good! More than other dev's have tried. I'll keep an eye on it to see how it turns out.

 

[Baldr]

A post-apocalyptic (nuclear, zombie, or otherwise) strategy game that puts you in charge of a colony of survivors. I've seen some Flash, web-based offerings, but nothing A-list quality and commercial.

State of Decay, your pretty much in charge of the colony, but it less of a strategy game and more of a First-Person go out and get supplies.

 

[DaWaffledude]

Six words: Harry Potter or Pokémon MMO.

 

[Simple Bluff]

You remind me of why they haven't made a Pokemon MMO. Holy crap, the money they could be making right now, it just bottles my mind. My head just exploded from trying to comprehend their thought processes.

Six words: Pokémon MMO.

There actually exists a fan-made [a href="http://pokemmo.eu/"]Pokemon MMO[/a] out there. It's not finished yet (some NPC scripts and minor items are missing) but it's pretty functional. Or it was, last time I played a few months ago.
I don't know if it's what you're looking for though; it's essentially just Pokemon Fire Red Multiplayer version. It'd be nice if Game Freak (or someone at Nintendo) actually developed a commercial Pokemon MMO that was tailor made for online play.

 

[Lewg999]

I'd like to see a stealth game done in the vein of Dishonored but with a co-operative part to it. Two players are allies , but they're playing through two separate missions simultaneously , the side objectives of one player helping the other towards their main objective and the same for player two. For example , one player may be robbing a bank whilst another infiltrates a mansion to assassinate somebody. Player one's side objective other than stealing the money could be to look in a safety deposit box to more quickly reveal the identity of the target to player two. Meanwhile Player two's side objective could be to find a blueprint hidden in the mansion to help player 2.

It'd have to be online only co-op and probably impossible to pull off but its a concept that I like

 

[Abomination]

Why hasn't someone made a 4X game using Homeworld's combat system? I mean, sure you'd have to reverse engineer it but for all intents and purposes it was PERFECT. Nothing has come close so far.

Why has the combat engine/mechanics of Fallout Tactics not been incorporated into any other game? It simply blows X-Com's out of the water.

 

[Bruenin]

A really fresh take on chess. It is such a popular turn based game there must be some ways to improve it while keeping to a turn based system.

http://www.chessvariants.org/

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/313/e/3/circle_chess_by_solidium-d32g3mn.png

OT: To this day, I cannot find a game where you play a ghost haunting a house.

I had actually started experimenting with a game that would let you do that, but then Neil Gaiman decided he'd make one. So now it's a race between me and him to claim the "I THOUGHT OF IT FIRST" crown (he'll win, I think).

There is Geist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geist_(video_game)
You get to possess people and objects and such. Mess with electronics and scaring guards. I remember getting stuck early on because I sucked at it so I can't tell you how good it is but you could look into it, not really haunting a house per se but you still get to act like a ghost, if that counts.