About a day ago, I had posted my idea for a game and asked the community to critique it and tell me what they thought. Unfortunately, I had posted it at 1 am, so nobody saw it. There's a surprising lack of Dtoid members on that late, I don't know why. Well, here are some more ideas I've had since then, and I've thrown in some of the features I had written down in the origional post, just so you don't get half the story. But there are some very important details about the overall mood and flow of the game in the original post, so you should probably check that one out first.


Picture of Phoenix + Photobucket = instant fictional setting

These are straight from the original post:

1) The story is about a handful of near-middle aged friends who all reach a similar midlife crisis together: their lives are boring. You have your fathers, your single men, your divorced men; just really what you think about when you imagine a group of poker buddies: screwing around, having a good time, enjoying each others company. That is why there will be no back stabbing in the story or online, they are in this together.

2) The setting is the early 90s. Security systems were still, for the most part, in their infancy in terms of sophistication. Things were just switching over to computers and there were still a lot of bugs in the systems. This gives the perfect amount of difficulty and complexity.

3) Do the heist the way you want it done. In game, you are given a few days to case the joint, or, sit in a car for a few in-game hours. There will be great interactive conversations with your computer-generated friends to make time fly. The reason you need to case the joint is to set up an approximate time (which you set) to strike and figure out specific ways to infiltrate.You could dress up as guards or cops or civilians. Or you could just say "screw it" at any time, in the car or otherwise, and go charging in, guns blazing, and take all the cash. Of course, depending on factors such as collateral damage, civilian casualties, and amount of loot taken will determine the ambition and drive (read: difficulty) of the cops.

4) Oh yeah, and it's open world, containing multiple banks and stores of various security levels that you can hit at any time but is that even worth mentioning any more?


Here are ideas I had added in the comments section:

5) Arttemis had pointed out in the comments "it would have to have some random element to it. Otherwise, the player becomes intimately familiar with the banks layout, security routines, etc, etc." He's right, and there's nothing worse than a game with no replay value, especially when the prices for games are so high. The way I decided to remedy this is to have randomly generated bank interiors, sort of like the dungeons in Diablo (from what I've heard). Although random, the design and architectural themes will remain intact no matter what. If it is a western-themed bank, it will have the same feel every time you enter, even though the desk is in a different place. This idea mostly applies to online, but may applied to the story mode too if found necessary.

6) This one is way to long to try to reword, so I'll just paste it. I also thought about an online mode with, say, four teams all going for the same loot with each team taking a different approach. Also, there will be online heists with or without casing. If you are alone, just go in with a random group of people with an assigned approach. If you are online with a group of friends or a clan, you can choose to case or not. You can also choose to case with random people, but those lobbies will probably be empty. I don't know about you, but I couldn't spend a few in game hours with those people. (sorry, couldn't find a good pic to go with this one)


Now on to the actually new ideas.

7) I just wanted to explain the setting in terms of exactly where it will take place. The reason I used a picture of Phoenix at the top of the post is because the city of Rio Bravo is based on Phoenix. And by based on, I mean they're both in the desert. Plus the desert setting is, I think the most fitting for several reasons. First, Rio Bravo is (I think) Spanish, and you don't find Spanish towns in Canada. Second, there is still a little Wild West vibe in the thought of a southern city, perfect for the story. Third, there is desert surrounding the city, giving way for the possibility of plot development involving diners and gas stations in the middle of nowhere (think Eight Days, but real).


8) Now, if you're going to have a bank heist game, a crowd control feature is a must. The crowd will react to your every action. If you open fire, they will freak out. You could try calming them down, scaring them to death, or just killing them. Just remember, if you can't keep control, you could have a revolt on your hands similar to United 93.

9) Everyone behaves differently under stress, so you can't have all the bank's patrons behaving in a similar manner. That is why I have come up with the concept I call the Behavioral Hierarchy System, or BHS. What the BHS does is govern the behaviors of the game's NPCs based on a preset hierarchy of wants and needs. Grunge was popular in the early 90's, so we'll use that as an example. Let's say grunge boy is trying to put the money he stole from his parents in the bank. When you rob the bank, the first thing he will try to do is run for the door. This is because he is programed to think only about himself and to do whatever it takes to get himself out of a dangerous situation (selfish bastard). The 'run' command is at the top of his hierarchy, and so he will do as he thinks is appropriate. Each system will have around ten commands, most important at the top and least important at the bottom. I think a good number of different BHS's would be 20. Each BHS will have a style of dress, and each NPC will be randomly created according to their BHS's specifications.

Well, that's all I an think of now. Tell me what you think and what issues need to be addressed.