Infinite Raceworks

One problem I'd realized with Infinite Mechworks is that getting a mech to walk is actually pretty damn hard. And while being able to design your own mech is very cool, (some might even say awesome) it's not for the light-hearted. That said, being able to design your own machine is a very neat concept. And so, I thought the idea might be better suited to a racing game.

Specifically, a sci-fi racing game. Think of it as a mix of F-Zero, Wipeout, and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. In order to keep the construction from being too daunting, you have a small number of adjustable parts to construct a chassis. The rest of the vehicle's parts are logical; an engine, cockpit, thrusters, and a hull. Once assembled, the game draws power lines in the most efficient way it can think of. These lines can then be modified by the player if they so desire.

Once the vehicle has been constructed, the player assigns commands to buttons on their controller. (Or keys, if they're using a keyboard and mouse.) For example, moving the left stick left or would turn wind flaps on a hover vehicle, the right trigger would activate the force pads at a certain power and turn on the thrusters. A weight inside the vehicle allows it to bank, and is controlled by the bumpers. All of these commands are chosen by the player.

There are three kinds of vehicles, classed by their mode of transportation. Traditional vehicles race on wheels, modern vehicles use force pads to hover and jets for thrust, and hybrids hover but can strategically deploy wheels for traction. Like Infinite Mechworks, a simulator is available. One of the most important features of the simulator is a wind tunnel; aerodynamics can be extremely important, especially if you're using a hover vehicle.

Now for the game modes. You can participate in single races and tournaments as in any racing game, but various limited modes are available as well. In stock races, you are given the same vehicle as everybody else, and have to rely on pure skill. Fix-up races give you a stock vehicle, and some cash to spend upgrading it. Drag races give you a budget that you have to spend on making the fastest, most efficient machine possible. Darwinist races take place across several tracks, and racers have to exchange a certain number of parts between tracks. Survival races last until only one vehicle is left functional- vehicles are often modified with spike pistons and other weapons for this mode.

Infinite Mechworks

This is an idea I had for a game, with major inspiration from Battletech, Lego, and Fallout. Minor inspiration comes from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Sound of the Sky/Sora no Woto, Big O, and probably a few other things I forgot about.

So, it’s a mech game. Where you build your own mech. But not like Armored Core or Front Mission, where you buy body parts and weapons and put them together to make a mech. No, this goes into much more detail. Instead of buying arms, legs, weapons, etc., you buy armor plates, servos, and so on. (Hence Lego and Nuts & Bolts.) If designing parts is too much for you, you can buy schematics, or buy them pre-assembled.

Of course, you can try out your mech in a simulation to see how well it works. At first, your simulation only covers movement. You can buy software that contains extra simulations, for a price. (Or just pirate it, if you have the connections. The quality of the software varies, depending on where you get it from. Cracked simulations might be unreliable, honeypots, or just plain inaccurate.) Purchasable simulations include AIs to fight, firing ranges, obstacle courses, and so on.

The setting may seem a bit familiar to some of you. Some time in the future from our perspective, there was a war. A very large war, fought with weapons of immense power. This sent civilization back a few hundred years, but things have recovered since then. Modern technology is inspired by pre-war tech, but is has simpler construction and materials. Thus, mechs are common but lack the power and strength of their inspiration. (Hence Fallout, Sound of the Sky, and Big O.)

In the game, there are two kinds of components you can buy. Modern components are of varying quality, but are common and will work with almost anything. Components usually only work with other components from the same manufacturer, due to different standards. However, you can buy bridges that let you mix brands. Pre-war components are rare and expensive, but incredibly powerful. You can use them with modern components via a bridge, (or just by soldering it on in the case of armor plates) but the added power and stress costs means the resulting mech probably won’t last long.

The player receives job offers via email. What jobs you’re offered depend on your notoriety. These missions are from various interested parties such as corporations, governments, or just anybody with cash. You can also explore the world map, delving into ruins. However, all the low-hanging fruit was picked clean long ago. The only ruins left to explore are either treacherous to navigate, claimed by someone, or well guarded.

Like Snatch, but with cyberpunk (sort of)

The setting is inspired by Ghost in the Shell, but the game itself would be a lot closer to Shadowrun. Full-body cyborgs* exist, but are uncommon. The PC just so happens to be a full-body cyborg. Since he's an enforcer for a mobster, this comes in handy. One day he tries to screw over his boss, and gets put in a sexbot for his disloyalty. His first task is to shut up a mole for a rival mobster. It's possible to sell yourself to the other guy, but only if you do it right.

From here, you have a few options. Work for your boss and gradually regain his trust, or betray him and work for his rival. Each path has its own quests and storyline associated with it, as well as an ending.

Or, you could try to take down both bosses yourself. Might not want to do this right away, though. Keep doing jobs and making friends. Buy a safehouse. Once you're well-connected enough, you might just be able to pull off a mutiny. You can do it any time you want, but you might want to check if your friends have your back.

You upgrade by buying better bodies, armor, weapons, and firmware. You can also upgrade what you already have. Since your inventory is limited to what you could realistically carry, it's a good idea to invest in some built-in tools for your body. All the bodies you buy stay with you, and you pick which one you want to use for the mission. You can also arrange for a drop at a predetermined location, in case you need to swap during the mission.

*People with just a brain and some spine to call their own. Everything else is robotic.

Transcendant State info

Note to self: fill out the section below, but don't forget to write about areas other than the poor cities. Talk about the capital as well.

Note to others: this isn't done yet. Feel free to read, but there's more coming.

Leprosy is common in certain areas. Those not inoculated are forced to adopt prosthetics, for obvious reasons. Official prosthetic surgeons are often weeks away and far too expensive for the common leper, so being a street doc is a profitable business. Street docs tend to be somewhat lax about safety, unless it directly concerns them. Street prosthetics tend to be rather haphazard and cheap, and aren't always accepted by the body. The process of installing the prosthetic is very painful and bloody, necessitating the application of painkillers. Unfortunately for would-be cyborgs, the only available painkiller is a homemade alcoholic drink that usually contains motor oil among other creative ingredients. This is also used as an antiseptic.

More notes.

Somehow, a Transcendant State spy has managed to infiltrate (MAGIC NATION). Your job is to take the place of his contact, and reroute any useful information to us.

(MAGIC NATION) technology is about advanced as Earth's, minus anything to do with computers. It's never stated outright, but (MAGIC NATION) are kind of like the Amish. It's not that they hate technology or advancement, but that certain things are outlawed- mostly computers and prosthetics.

Opening for an RPG idea

The player starts in an office, at a computer. The PC is reading an article titled Cartographer I project delayed, researchers refuse to explain why. We hear a door opening, and the PC quickly alt-tabs to a program with various data on it. He swings around to face the person that just entered the room. It is a man in his late twenties, wearing a lab coat.

PC: Yes?

PERSON IN LAB COAT: Well, since we're going to be using your soul for the project, we thought it would only be right for you to decide the physical features of the host body. I've uploaded a program to our intranet. You can use that to decide what you'll look like in your next life. It's in a hidden folder in the main directory, so you should be able to find it pretty quickly.

PC: Thanks. I'll get right on it.

PERSON IN LAB COAT: I'll leave you to it, then. (beat) By the way, your reaction times have slowed. I managed to read that headline before you switched windows.

PC: (muttering) Dammit...

The PC opens a terminal window and opens the program. Another window pops up, and this is where the player designs their character. Options are body shape, skin tone, facial features, sex, etc. The player also names the PC here.

Once the player is done, fade to black.

The player sees nothing, initially. After a few seconds, the player's eyes open to reveal a white room with a door. It takes a few seconds for their eyes to focus. The PC is on a bed, and gets up. The PC stumbles for a bit before regaining its balance.

VOICE: Ah, you're awake. Glad to see that, I am. How are you feeling? Good, I take it? If not, feel free to rest.

PC: What's going on? Where am I?

VOICE: Hm. Seems you haven't recovered any of your personal memories yet. At least you know our language. Anyway, you are the result of an experiment to capture a soul and put it in a dormant body. As you can tell, the experiment was a success. You are free to leave the room now. If you have any questions- and I'm sure you do, feel free to direct them to anyone who's not working.

The player hears a click, and a light just above the door handle changes from red to green. Once the player exits the room, they are free to explore the lab. Talking to the staff lets you learn more about the project, and the surrounding world. You can also visit an obstacle course and a firing range, as a combat tutorial. It's about lunchtime when you wake up, so there are a lot of people with free time. The in-game clock doesn't advance until the player exits the lab, by the way. This section of the game is basically a tutorial, so the player isn't required to talk to all of these people and is thus skippable. I'm looking at you, Custom Robo.

At the firing range, the player has access to various firearms and is allowed to train with them. The guns available are mostly (BORDER NATION) weapons, but a few (CYBERPUNK NATION) and (MAGIC NATION) weapons are there as well. You are allowed to fire at targets, and can choose the range. Moving targets are available as well.

The person at the firing range has some knowledge he's willing to spare you for, mostly about weapons. Which weapons are best for what situations, the differences between various manufacturers, etc. He talks at some length, and you have the option to request (politely or not) that he stop.

He also mentions a challenge he has for you. Give him however much money you're willing to bet. Complete the challenge, and he'll double it. Try as many times as you want. The challenge is designed to be impossible, but you can win it. You'll just have to cheat. Sneak in your own weapon, mod it, use special ammo, rig the course, etc. If he isn't going to play fair, you don't have to either. Bet a small to medium amount, and you'll get double if you win. If you bet a lot, he'll still accept, thinking that you can't win. If you beat him, he'll admit this and offer you everything he has on him. Since this challenge was off the books from the start, and he tried to con you, you have a lot of leverage. Thus, you have a few options.

1) Give me the money.

2) Bullshit. You're holding out. (He is. If your speech skill is high enough, you get the extra cash. If not, you get the regular amount and he hates you a little more. May be this could tie into a later quest?)

3) Keep your money. I'll take a favor. (He thinks you're talking about a sexual favor, which the PC corrects. I'm not sure what to do with this option. Maybe have it tie into the same quest? Any advantage this gives you should not be required to complete said quest, but would make it easier.)

4) Keep your money. I'll take a gun. (He can't give you one of the range's weapons, since they're all licensed to the range and kept in stock. If one of them went missing, the bureaucrats would know. Instead, you get to choose from his collection. All the guns have women's names. Mabel, Vera, Beatrice, Jayne, Seras, etc.)

Whether you take the challenge or not, you can pay this guy to mod your weapons.

In the cafeteria, the player can ask about the outside world. If they do, they're directed to a specific person. In-game, this is because he knows a lot about history, politics, etc. Design-wise, it's so a bunch of dialog doesn't have to be recorded several times over by different VAs. Once the player talks to this person, they can discuss the following topics.

- What is the soul transfer project? (An experiment to capture and transplant a soul into a dormant body. The project director's health was failing, so he offered himself as the donor.)

- I remember the name Cartographer I. Do you know what that is? (The Cartographer I is the first man-made satellite, currently under development. Its main purpose is to see what's behind the Fog Wall.)

-- Fog Wall (A border of fog surrounding the continent, about three miles from the shore in every direction. Nobody that has gone into the Fog Wall has ever returned. The player doesn't learn this for some time, but it's actually utility fog.)

- What's outside the lab? (Player's question is answered, and conversation turns to the political state and how it got there. From then on the player can ask about any of these topics.)

-- (MAGIC NATION)

--- Magic (Not as diverse as the magic you'd find in a "normal" fantasy setting, but very powerful. The downside is that you're literally using your soul as ammunition. It's also possible to absorb memories, adding them to your soul. This results in more "ammunition" for spells, but is likely to drive the receiver insane. Since this isn't like regular fantasy magic, maybe I should call it something else?)

---- Sleeper agents with false memories

--- Political state

-- (BORDER NATION)

--- History and founding (Born out of the latest of many conflicts between (MAGIC NATION) and (CYBERPUNK NATION). The two nations have been fighting for as long as anyone can remember. )

--- Political state

-- (CYBERPUNK NATION)

--- Prosthetics (Think Ghost in the Shell. Prosthetic eyes are common, as are minor body mods. In the poorer cities, you can't afford a good prosthetic. Thus, infections and rejection from the body are common problems. Moonshine is a common antibiotic.)

--- Political state

Colliding Worlds

I thought of this on the bus. Here's the chat I had with Blackmoon when I bounced the game idea off him. Additional notes are below.

----

Joel:

I had an interesting idea for a game on the bus home.

Ever played Knytt?

mysticblackmoon:

Nope.

Joel:

Well, it's a bit like a Metroidvania, only there's no specific order and very few enemies.

Really though, the focus is the scenery porn.

mysticblackmoon:

Alright.

Joel:

Look it up some time.

Anyway, my idea was pretty much that, only in 3D and with Mirror's Edge or Assassin's Creed-style parkour.

mysticblackmoon:

Hm.

So it'd be kinda like the 2008 Prince of Persia, but not suck?

Joel:

Yeah.

Oh, and I liked that game.

mysticblackmoon:

It was pretty, but not fun.

Joel:

Well, I liked it. I guess we can agree to disagree.

I was thinking that the setting would be a bunch of different landscapes sort of shoved together.

mysticblackmoon:

Indeed.

Hm.

Joel:

If you can't imagine what I'm talking about, think a patchwork map.

mysticblackmoon:

No, I kinda kinda imagine.

Joel:

The plot (or what little plot there'd be) would be about this.

Basically, something has caused these plots of land to be removed from their original place and be smooshed together here. In order to get the land (and yourself) back to their original places, you have to collect these MacGuffins.

mysticblackmoon:

Hm.

You think you'll ever work on it?

Joel:

Maybe.

I'll put what I just said on my blog.

If I ever have the resources to make this kind of game, I'll probably go digging through my blog for inspiration.

That's where Obake came from, actually.

mysticblackmoon:

I see.

Joel:

Yeah.

It's very useful that way.

----

The PC is a short-haired blond women, possibly wearing a white hoodie. The parkour person with a hoodie is kind a cliché, though. I'm not sure if I want to do that. Hope is a possible name for the character. Dunno why.

As I hinted, the main focus of the game is the scenery porn. The plot coupons and parkour are there to give the game some actual content. Scenery porn is like a condiment- if used right, it can make something much better. It just can't work by itself.

The plot coupons give Hope knowledge and abilities. Say, the first plot coupon she picks up lets her sense what general direction plot coupons are in. Others might improve her parkour. In fact, maybe this is how she learns it. This also lets us explain the plot easily. Whenever she picks up a coupon, we're treated to a little video that shows what Hope has learned. Again, easy plot device.

Unperfect Utopia

Fuck Utopia (Idea for GTA-esque game)

What would the underworld of a utopia look like?

I'd thought of both these ideas a while ago, but I never thought of putting them together. I might have to make this into a game one day.

Ideas;

• PC is an average Joe who starts to notice that he doesn't actually enjoy the utopia he lives in. He decides to do something about it, by causing chaos. Make things a bit more interesting. As the game progresses, he starts to seriously think about toppling the utopia.
• The game takes place in the capital city of the utopia. It is very clean, with an emphasis on bright solid colors.
• At the start of the game, the cops are unarmed, and mostly doing things like helping kittens out of trees. There's no crime, so the police is unable to deal with serious threats, such as yourself. This will help the player ease themselves into the game, and shows the state of the city. As the game progresses, they become better armed, more numerous, and smarter. In general, the police represents the state of the city.
• Everything is destructible, with destroyed things slowly rebuilding themselves via some sort of applied phlebotinum. Probably nanotech.
• What allies would you have? Maybe the underground I mentioned in one of the threads. Mr. Cales has a very nice idea there.
• The game's story changes depending on your actions. Not by way of choosing "good" or "evil" missions, but your general conduct.  A "good" PC will be a revolutionary figure, while an "evil" PC will be an immoral bastard in it for the fun. A "neutral" PC wants to topple the utopia, but hasn't given much thought into what comes after. He figures somebody will pick up the pieces, just not him.

Haven

This is something I made up in the shower (yet again) for Mach Racing. It's based on Big Blue and Green Plant from F-Zero, but most of it is my own material.

---

Haven lives up to its name in many ways. For some, it is a welcome retreat from their daily life. For other, richer folk, it is a place to live in solace. For those who wish to stay away from the public eye for whatever reason, it is a welcome hiding place.

It is a beautiful planet, its biosphere preserved by law of the local government. Human settlements are few and far between, separated from the rest of the area by powerful force fields.

Because the biosphere is so closely guarded, the populace can not feed off of it. Thus, Haven imports almost all of its necessities. Thus, a few sacrifices have been made. For example, race tracks have been built within various settlements for racers to compete in, but more importantly to provide the government with much-needed income. There are currently two such tracks on the planet, but there are plans for a third.

The first is built within the capital- or rather entwines it. The track dives and meanders between the buildings and the trees. It is somewhat controversial due to the noise and the way the track is built, but this will be rectified as soon as enough money is raised.

The second is built in one on Haven's floating cities. It goes above the main shopping district, passing by the commercial sectors, strategically avoiding the residential district but staying close to it, and finally going into the ocean. The course is a huge boon to the city, though it does have its detractors.

Are the UGG unnecessary?

I haven't seen doing anything with them, even though they would probably play a huge role in BLADE, especially the first game. I think it might be a good idea to write them out and have humanity become space-faring some other way. Lost precursor tech, maybe?

Nah. Too cliche. I might do a twist on that, though. I'll have to think about this. I'll also have to talk to Aaron about it and see what he thinks.

Three game ideas

Heroic Bloodshed Third-Person Shooter

The plot of this one will be worked out at a later date, and frankly it's not important. For a game like this, the plot is just windowdressing. The gameplay is standard TPS fare, but with your character growing in power as he racks up combos. The game starts off fairly realistic, but as your combo increases the art becomes more stylized, and so does the gameplay. You can pull off stunts, land precision hits without aiming, and do other fantastic things. This also affects things such as your health, enemy AI, and your ammo count. You have no HUD, letting the game manipulate the variables from behind the scenes.

Forever War

The setting is similar to Total Annihilation. Civilization got destroyed long ago and the military are the only survivors, fighting for a cause long forgotten. Soldiers are cloned and raised from birth to fight. As the campaign goes on, you gradually learn the cause of the war. So far, I have three ideas for the backstory.

1. The War was started by two generals who loved nothing but war. They conspired to create a climate of endless conflict to make their own paradise, at the expense of everyone else. Through advances in nanotechnology, they are still alive, and are still commanding their armies in their hellish paradise.
2. The same two generals created the war, but they're long dead. Nobody has any idea what's going on, just that everybody on the other side has to die.
3. The original conflict was small, and escalated out of proportion. It kept growing, until it engulfed all of civilization.

I'll probably end up using the first scenario, but the second might be a better choice.

The protagonist is a commander in one of these two armies, and eventually discovers the reason behind the madness. Seeing how pointless it all is, he strives to stop it the only way he knows how. War. He gathers people from both sides and leads a rebellion, taking on both sides at once.

The gameplay will be similar to that of a normal RTS, but on a planet-wide scale. Instead of bases, you have gigantic cities. Instead of units, you have armies. Despite the apparent similarities to the 4X genre, there is little to no micromanaging. Your cities automatically expand and gather resources to expand your control over the planet, and new cities are even made without you choosing where to put them. You just give the general orders. (i.e. "Expand this way, and focus on building mechanized infantry.")

Revolution

A sidescrolling shooter with themes of revolution and war. Each locale has its own color palette, reflecting the state of that area. You start as a revolutionary, helping to free a country from its oppressive regime. After many struggles, you finally dispose your rulers After this, you take help the rest of the world, destroying other totalitarian powers. Some see these acts as ones of heroism, while others say that your government is unjustly imposing its will on other countries when it has no right to. Eventually this results in an all-out war against your regime. Thanks to your efforts, you stay in power. Eventually, the protagonist realizes that the revolution he once supported has become the very thing it was fighting against, and takes his own life.

BLADE Politics & Government

BLADE cities (colonies) are largely independent of each other. Also, each colony is suited to a specific purpose. For example, One colony may be dedicated to astronomical research, while another is dedicated to robotics.
Colonies are usually located in orbit above planets, in cave networks, or are huge starships known as Cruisers. The latter is a bit risky since they are often dependant upon other colonies and other cities for food & supplies. However, their mobility allows them to go to places where they are needed. Cruisers are usually dedicated to exploration, scientific, military, and medical purposes.

One of BLADE's main principles is the population limit. Each colony is limited to a population of about 1500. This limit may be increased or decreased depending on the wellbeing of the colony. The purpose of this is so that every body knows each other, and get along well. This defeats the purpose for laws, so they are hardly ever made, if at all. If things things get really bad, people may be forced to leave. People will continue to do so until all is right again. Fortunately, this has happened much. Unfortunately however, the people that were forced to leave in one such situation formed their own colony and militia, and procedded to attack their original colony. Other colonies helped to defeat the attackers, but others deciede that if they could do it , why couldn't we? And they did, beginning the BLADE Civil War. *Sigh* Tough times... tough times...