Completely New Game Concepts

[DooMBoy]

Do you think it's at all possible for another game concept to be devised? I've thought about it, and as far as I know, almost everything has been translated into gaming, from hunting, to racing, to thievery, to killing demons (wink wink), even assassination.
So, what do you think? Will there ever be another completely new game concept?

[Little Faith]

A strategy game leaving you in the control of a body's immune system (or at least a small part of it).

It could be fun trying to organise the T-cells, the B-cells and the macrophages in order to beat invading bacteria, vira, parasites and rebellious cancerous cells.

[Fredrik]

Games with new concepts? We get a few every year. The last one I played was Pikmin.

[DooMBoy]

Little Faith said:

A strategy game leaving you in the control of a body's immune system (or at least a small part of it).

It could be fun trying to organise the T-cells, the B-cells and the macrophages in order to beat invading bacteria, vira, parasites and rebellious cancerous cells.

Well, that's not a new concept, just a play on the infamous RTS genre. Although such a game would be interesting, to say the least. :)

[Little Faith]

Well, it would certainly promise a lot of strategy since the units will be so specialised.

Macrophages: Gigantic workhorses who do a lot of work by clearing away dead matter, debris (such as the fat clogging arteries), eating neutralised enemies or capturing them for intellegence operations. Macrophages can cause traffic problems by being so damn big.

Killer T-cells: Cell eaters for close combat, precision strikes and clearing out infected cells in virus attacks.

Messenger T-cells: Communicaters necessary in order to command your forces. Sorta like the overlords of Starcraft, but you must have them within protein exchange range of your troops. Losing them will disable your forces in the area.

Scout T-cells: Gathers information about enemy troop movements and composition. Specimens captured by macrophages are necessary in order for these cells to be able to identify invaders.

"Shooter" B-cells: Do nothing but shoot anti-bodies at invaders disabling their attacks. B-cells must know specific antibodies to counter specific enemies.

"Research" B-cells: Reseaches new antibodies from enemies captured by macrophages.

[Sephiroth]

i wanted to do a TC for homeworld based on doom. that game is fun to play and it is one of the best RTS i have ever seen, and i am not a big fan of the RTS games.

[dsm]

Little Faith said:

Well, it would certainly promise a lot of strategy since the units will be so specialised.

Well, the computer only needs to send a single HI Virus at you and your entire forces of cells will crumble into dust.

I have an idea, though not really a new concept:
A first person shooter, which works more like an adventure game - FPSs are moving in that direction, there might already be such a game out there that I haven't heard of/tried.

In a nut shell: There are extremely few, but rather dangerous enemies, most of the time you walk around and check things out (talk to people, examine documents/date files) and solve advanced puzzles. Very often, defeating a puzzle specific enemy/some puzzle specific enemies requires certain items that you have to interact with in a certain way.

Does such a game exist?

[Little Faith]

An FPS where only the enemies has weapons. You are just an ordinary guy who know too much and must make it out alive with the information or something earthshakingly bad will happen.

[dsm]

Little Faith said:

An FPS where only the enemies has weapons. You are just an ordinary guy who know too much and must make it out alive with the information or something earthshakingly bad will happen.

That sounds extremely sucky imho - I hate having to run without being able to kill.

[Little Faith]

Oh, we could also turn it around:

You are an elite soldier sent in to eradicate a village since it is believed to support a rebel faction.

You must shoot everyone and allow no one to run away since there must not be any witnesses to report the deed.

[Remilia Scarlet]

I wrote a text-based fighting game once. Haven't seen one of those (and it wasn't RPG based, either).

I always had the idea of a game that involved using a snow blower. Never could figure out a fun way to do it, though.

[dsm]

Little Faith said:

Oh, we could also turn it around:

You are an elite soldier sent in to eradicate a village since it is believed to support a rebel faction.

You must shoot everyone and allow no one to run away since there must not be any witnesses to report the deed.

I'm hard to satisfy :-)
Nope, I'm not too fond of shooting unarmed civies.

[Silverwyvern]

I keep wanting them to make a nice organizer type game for the gba.. you know.. dictionary, translator... diary... whatever.


Hmmm.. *thinks about bull demon racing*

[Little Faith]

What do you mean, game?

These sound more like non-game applications.

[Disorder]

dsm said:

That sounds extremely sucky imho - I hate having to run without being able to kill.

Sounds like Trespasser. The 'jurassic park'-game. Sometimes you ended up with nothing but rocks and sticks to fight off the Raptors. A decent game, although the controls were too complicated. Some gamedevelopers might want to reinvent that type of game. I liked that type of atmoshpere, you feel threatened all the time.

[DooMBoy]

These are all nice game ideas, however they are not completely new concepts.

[The Ultimate DooMer]

What about a first-person beat-em-up? Like Streets of Rage 1/2/3, but in a first person way. (with optional chasecam)

[Epyo]

You mean, like a new genre? Yeah, There aren't too many new ones.

[IMJack]

Silverwyvern said:

I keep wanting them to make a nice organizer type game for the gba.. you know.. dictionary, translator... diary... whatever.

Such a thing actually existed, at one point. Look for "InfoGenius" Game Boy products.

[Captain Red]

dsm said:
I'm hard to satisfy :-)
Nope, I'm not too fond of shooting unarmed civies.

You too? I'm one of the few people who try to avoid shooting the civies in the die hard games...

[Amaster]

Little Faith said:

A strategy game leaving you in the control of a body's immune system (or at least a small part of it).

It could be fun trying to organise the T-cells, the B-cells and the macrophages in order to beat invading bacteria, vira, parasites and rebellious cancerous cells.

I witnesed a teaching aid like this in high school. Played like Descent. Wasnt this complex though.

Ultimate DooMer said:

What about a first-person beat-em-up? Like Streets of Rage 1/2/3, but in a first person way. (with optional chasecam)

It would definetely be different, but I dont know how well it would work. I doubt anyone would ever use anything other than the chasecam. Imagine playing Nightmare Creatures in first person.

How about more 3D puzzle games? I cant remember the name of this one "game" (it was a two player board game type of deal. Its been released under many names and appearances) Players would take turns spawning these colored "globs", and each one that is spawned would take over each of the adjacent "globs" (im sure someone knows what Im talking about). That might be nifty in 3D.

I still say we should bring back the 2D genres though. I could ude a good 2d platformer or shooter.

[Sephiroth]

all game concepts have been done, just look at 'Boong Ga Boong Ga'

[AndrewB]

Sheez, there are tons of unused concepts. Building construction, shopping, hotel-running, errand-running, farming, mystery-solving (Hugo or Sherlock style).

Some have been done, but really the only games that push new levels of technology are fighting games. It's time for a change. I don't see how one unpleasant thing (war) is more suitable for a game than a pillion other unpleasant things. If simple, addictive elements are incorporated into these games, there's nothing stopping them from being wonderful and addicting.

I used to play a game on an Apple II G called "Jenny's Journeys." You had to drive around a rural town doing a list of random errands. You had to memorize where the places were, as you only had the names, not the addresses. You had to avoid running out of gas, and you were docked points if you looked at your map.

Absolutely wonderful game. I wish there was a game like this. Unfortunately, everyone seems stuck on the concept of fighting, puzzles, racing, fighting, fighting, and fighting.

[Captain Red]

AndrewB said:
Sheez, there are tons of unused concepts. Building construction, shopping, hotel-running, errand-running, farming, mystery-solving (Hugo or Sherlock style).

most of those have been attempeted, and most of them were crap. (mind you, they were mostly Sim games.)

[Captain Red]

Oh, I just had an idea, Petty theft! You go about a small town, and steal things like street signs, bricks, hard hats, and traffic cones! You have no way to defend yourself, and being spotted at all means game over. You can use things like jackets to hide give way signs under. Big points if you manage to steal things like police tape and radar scanners!

[IMJack]

AndrewB: Ever play the Harvest Moon series of games? You want building, farming, shopping, errand-running, some RPG aspects... Very simplified, but a good start. They're fun games if you can get into them, and if you have the patience for them.

[LorD BaZTArD]

I've got relatively simple taste then, Big planets, Big ships, Big guns and Big explosions are all I could want ;).

Having said that, I get sick of straight shooters like Serious Sam and Real Time Strategys like the Age of series. A game where you are in command, or in multiplayer, there is a dedicated commander class and everyone else is a soldier. Instead of being suspended above the action though, you are right in the middle of it. You can pilot vehicles as well, and give orders to your units. With customizable weapons/vehicles/buildings. A multi-layered tech tree, and a simple RPG player stat setup, base building/defending and fast paced action. if you could be in a fighter and switch to top down as well for waypoints and specific orders then switch back to pilot mode would be cool.

Like a hybrid of the two styles. Not as complex as some RTS's but not as simple as some shooters. Also, with maybe a couple of endings and the ability to play the game how you want...so if you pick stealth stats you can't use a rocket launcher, if you pick Action stats you aren't gonna succeed in hiding behind a tree in Armour too well :D, or some stats that would benefit both styles like Improved aiming.

Another thing I want is the ability to fight in space/on planets/in buildings and relatively dynamic level switching, so if you got shot down in the sky, or the cruiser you where a passenger on crashes into a planet, you could continue the action on the ground.....if you survive it.

It would have a large free for all style world like the GTA series, but instead of just being unlocking cars/weapons and other stuff, choosing different bosses could take you into a different story, something a GTA game should have actually. I think freelancer might be a better comparison actually. Although it's not out yet.

[FirebrandX]

Although not a new concept, I was just thinking the other day it would be cool to have a new Marble-Madness game using the Metroid Prime morph ball engine. My favorite parts of Metroid Prime were when you did morph ball stuff, so I thought it would cool to have an entire game based on that.

[Submerge]

There is actually a very popular game where you are basically unarmed and the point is to get out alive. ever heard of Clocktower?

[Remilia Scarlet]

LorD BaZTArD said:

A game where you are in command, or in multiplayer, there is a dedicated commander class and everyone else is a soldier. Instead of being suspended above the action though, you are right in the middle of it. You can pilot vehicles as well, and give orders to your units. With customizable weapons/vehicles/buildings.[...]
Like a hybrid of the two styles. Not as complex as some RTS's but not as simple as some shooters.

They kind of already did this. Check out "Space Hulk". Or better yet, go to the PSX/Saturn/3D0 version: "Space Hulk: Vengeance of The Blood Angles". It's a mixture of RTS and FPS.

What I'd like to see is a reverse God game. Like, rather than you build the city in Sim City, you take orders from some "god" and build the city yourself.