My Sci-Fi FPS Idea
by Ben Immel · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 12/29/2006 (7:27 pm) · 13 replies
I know the sci-fi fps has been done quite a lot, but since I can remember I've always wanted to make my own, even if it only hits halfway through, just to be able to say I started it, and maybe someday finish it. Anyway, heres a basic storyline I've wrote out:
1: Your character is a pseudo-mercenary as he works against and with police, and he ends up getting called in to help investigate a string of kidnappings, in which its a huge amount, and recent sitings of strange things soon after, this is where your character, handle "Greywolf", finds out that a gang was hired to do the kidnappings, and finds the location of a 'processing' station.
2: At the processing station, Greywolf fights through half the level fighting 'normal' security guards, and finds a holding cell with about 5 people. After he helps them escape, he gets a tip from a woman about something the guards said, so he goes to check it out, after that, maybe a cutscene showing these mutated looking guards walk out, and thats where things get interesting. After a fight to an HQ style room, you find the plans and location of 'brainwashing' station, and proceed there.
3: When you arrive, you end up getting knocked out and taken inside, and locked up. When Greywolf regains conience(spelled that wrong i think) a man walks in and turns a moniter on, showing the woman he helped escape tied up and in a gas chamber. A bit of dialogue, the man turns the gas on, and walks out, with the woman getting mutated into a 'Mother' who controls the new mutates. Greywolf fights through some more guards and then he gets out.
4: You make your way through the city, and find things are starting to look different, as an organic growth is starting to appear around things like cars, street lamps, etc, and more guards, some being more 'evolved'. When you make it back to base, you get a transmission from the man who started it all, saying he needs your help. After a talk, you meet.
5: At the meeting place, he explains that this was all started by an alien artifiact they had found, and the only words they could translate were 'Power' and 'Mother'. They end up ambushed by the 'Mothers' minions, and they escape, as the man shows Greywolf the heart of it all.
6: You make it to the Heart, and fight through evolved guards, giant guards, etc, all kinds of hideous mutated beasts, and eventually reach Mother, and you fight her, ending in the ladies death, demutation, and probably a sad ending.
Comments very much appreciated.
1: Your character is a pseudo-mercenary as he works against and with police, and he ends up getting called in to help investigate a string of kidnappings, in which its a huge amount, and recent sitings of strange things soon after, this is where your character, handle "Greywolf", finds out that a gang was hired to do the kidnappings, and finds the location of a 'processing' station.
2: At the processing station, Greywolf fights through half the level fighting 'normal' security guards, and finds a holding cell with about 5 people. After he helps them escape, he gets a tip from a woman about something the guards said, so he goes to check it out, after that, maybe a cutscene showing these mutated looking guards walk out, and thats where things get interesting. After a fight to an HQ style room, you find the plans and location of 'brainwashing' station, and proceed there.
3: When you arrive, you end up getting knocked out and taken inside, and locked up. When Greywolf regains conience(spelled that wrong i think) a man walks in and turns a moniter on, showing the woman he helped escape tied up and in a gas chamber. A bit of dialogue, the man turns the gas on, and walks out, with the woman getting mutated into a 'Mother' who controls the new mutates. Greywolf fights through some more guards and then he gets out.
4: You make your way through the city, and find things are starting to look different, as an organic growth is starting to appear around things like cars, street lamps, etc, and more guards, some being more 'evolved'. When you make it back to base, you get a transmission from the man who started it all, saying he needs your help. After a talk, you meet.
5: At the meeting place, he explains that this was all started by an alien artifiact they had found, and the only words they could translate were 'Power' and 'Mother'. They end up ambushed by the 'Mothers' minions, and they escape, as the man shows Greywolf the heart of it all.
6: You make it to the Heart, and fight through evolved guards, giant guards, etc, all kinds of hideous mutated beasts, and eventually reach Mother, and you fight her, ending in the ladies death, demutation, and probably a sad ending.
Comments very much appreciated.
About the author
#2
At every thing your present in the story, ask the why and how it is there, because your player is going to want to know there is a reason for everything.
Now I'm sad that you spoiled the ending to your game
12/30/2006 (12:53 pm)
You've got some good ideas, just explore them a bit more.At every thing your present in the story, ask the why and how it is there, because your player is going to want to know there is a reason for everything.
Now I'm sad that you spoiled the ending to your game
#3
*They are being put in the gas chamber like the lady
*The 'mutates' aren't under control until they've been brainwashed, and brainwashed is probably a misleading word
*Why does anyone knock the hero out and show them the plan? I guess I could make it that he wanted to show Greywolf the people he got out didnt make it
*In more detal, during the first level, theres gonna be mention of him, just didnt go into that much
Thanks for the replies everyone!
edit: Oh yea, forgot, the things that are gonna make it unique arent graphics and sounds, but img onna try to make the interface really easy to understand, I wanna be able to have times where there is a lot of action, but throw in puzzles too, like opening the door to the prisoners would be like a puzzle, and other stuff too, things that would just make sense. Also, during the major missions, to get from one place to the next, you would actually run through the city making it to the base, or maybe to a transport vehicle, etc.
12/30/2006 (7:50 pm)
Well, with me, indecision is a problem, so my ending will most likely change, but to answer the questions:*They are being put in the gas chamber like the lady
*The 'mutates' aren't under control until they've been brainwashed, and brainwashed is probably a misleading word
*Why does anyone knock the hero out and show them the plan? I guess I could make it that he wanted to show Greywolf the people he got out didnt make it
*In more detal, during the first level, theres gonna be mention of him, just didnt go into that much
Thanks for the replies everyone!
edit: Oh yea, forgot, the things that are gonna make it unique arent graphics and sounds, but img onna try to make the interface really easy to understand, I wanna be able to have times where there is a lot of action, but throw in puzzles too, like opening the door to the prisoners would be like a puzzle, and other stuff too, things that would just make sense. Also, during the major missions, to get from one place to the next, you would actually run through the city making it to the base, or maybe to a transport vehicle, etc.
#4
I know... I'm annoying. But again, I still have problems with some things in the story.
If you watched Austin Powers (Part 1) you will know what I mean.
Austin and his Sidekick (Liz Hurley) are captured by Dr. Evil.
He tells them about his plans and wants to kill them, by throwing them into a chamber with mutated Killersharks who have mounted Lasers on their forehead (muahahaha).
Anyway, his son shows up and asks him:
"Why bother? I've got a gun in my room! Wait a moment and I'll get it. We shoot them, and that's it!"
But Evil doesn't agree. He want's his plan because it's more creative and Austin will suffer more.
Actually this situation is a cliche.
The baddies allow the good guys always a chance of getting out. But there is no reason.
How about this? He has something they want!
And they are threatening (mutate, kill, or whatever) the innocent people (girl, partner, president etc.)
James already mentioned it, ask yourself always the question "why?".
Here you can find some Design Doc Templates that might help you in designing your game:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/list.asp?categoryid=23
Oh and look at the Design Bible of "Claw"!
That shows good how many things have to be considered when designing a game (phew... and how big such a doc is).
best regards
PS: sorry for the bad English
12/31/2006 (2:33 am)
Hi Ben,I know... I'm annoying. But again, I still have problems with some things in the story.
If you watched Austin Powers (Part 1) you will know what I mean.
Austin and his Sidekick (Liz Hurley) are captured by Dr. Evil.
He tells them about his plans and wants to kill them, by throwing them into a chamber with mutated Killersharks who have mounted Lasers on their forehead (muahahaha).
Anyway, his son shows up and asks him:
"Why bother? I've got a gun in my room! Wait a moment and I'll get it. We shoot them, and that's it!"
But Evil doesn't agree. He want's his plan because it's more creative and Austin will suffer more.
Actually this situation is a cliche.
The baddies allow the good guys always a chance of getting out. But there is no reason.
How about this? He has something they want!
And they are threatening (mutate, kill, or whatever) the innocent people (girl, partner, president etc.)
James already mentioned it, ask yourself always the question "why?".
Here you can find some Design Doc Templates that might help you in designing your game:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/list.asp?categoryid=23
Oh and look at the Design Bible of "Claw"!
That shows good how many things have to be considered when designing a game (phew... and how big such a doc is).
best regards
PS: sorry for the bad English
#5
And happy new year everyone!
12/31/2006 (11:46 am)
Thanks Kristian, I didnt even think about it being he had something they needed, maybe it could be he stole something from the first base, like a schematic or something, and he hid it, so they captured him to interrogate him.And happy new year everyone!
#6
So something like Half Life 2, with their puzzles, although yours might not be physics based? And that second thing sounds alot like Jack II. That game was fun, especially with the gigantic city and all the combat along the way, and how it seemed like a real city with civilians, guards, and such and not a giant wax museum like some other games. But make sure not to make your city too big, empty or redundant, or you'll end up with something like The Legend of Zelda, Windwaker, where 80% of the game is spent on a boat island hopping.
And one thing important to the story, mentioned like 10 times already... Why. Why are they mutating people? You just don't start turning people into rapidly evolved freaks because you feel like having someone kick your ass, what's the villians goal? And after defeating mother, what happens to the man behind this idea. What's saying he doesn't just make a new "Mother" and start reeking(?) havock on the world again.
12/31/2006 (2:04 pm)
" I wanna be able to have times where there is a lot of action, but throw in puzzles too, like opening the door to the prisoners would be like a puzzle, and other stuff too, things that would just make sense. Also, during the major missions, to get from one place to the next, you would actually run through the city making it to the base, or maybe to a transport vehicle, etc."So something like Half Life 2, with their puzzles, although yours might not be physics based? And that second thing sounds alot like Jack II. That game was fun, especially with the gigantic city and all the combat along the way, and how it seemed like a real city with civilians, guards, and such and not a giant wax museum like some other games. But make sure not to make your city too big, empty or redundant, or you'll end up with something like The Legend of Zelda, Windwaker, where 80% of the game is spent on a boat island hopping.
And one thing important to the story, mentioned like 10 times already... Why. Why are they mutating people? You just don't start turning people into rapidly evolved freaks because you feel like having someone kick your ass, what's the villians goal? And after defeating mother, what happens to the man behind this idea. What's saying he doesn't just make a new "Mother" and start reeking(?) havock on the world again.
#7
12/31/2006 (9:08 pm)
Thats where sequels come in Morrock :)
#8
Thanks to everyone whos responded, its given me a lot better ideas and perspective!
12/31/2006 (10:10 pm)
James, yes, if it was a big hit, there would probably see a sequel, but to answer Morrock, The city wouldnt be too big, just big enough to give the player a glimpse of wow, there is more to this than just shooting, and to be a bit more in depth as to why they are doing it, when they uncovered the word 'Power' in the artifact, they started investigating more, and learned it was an instruction tablet to make an ultimate armyThanks to everyone whos responded, its given me a lot better ideas and perspective!
#9
It's hundreds of years in the future the Great Robot-War of 2987 is ancient history for some, for others like our hero John "Flashback" Johnson it's still a burning memory. John "Flashback" Johnson is a soldier, he always will be as it's all he knows but the battlefield of the future is unlike anything before.
Lucha libre is the only form of dispute settlement, the UN now called the "New UN" is shaped like a HUGE wrestling arena and luchadors fight for their countries pulling awesome flips and tackles to the death. Worldwide gambling is prominent but one can only wager a new world currency used only in these events called... Quatloo's and it usually takes at least 400 to wager on any newcomer representing his or her country.
The match is televised and are under very strict security to prevent tampering which the new intelligence agencies of the countries focus on "How can we cheat!?" Anyway so all is going well and our main character; an up and coming new luchador is fighting for his country and during a fight there's this huge rumbling outside and all these pyramid shaped spacecrafts start landing over major cities and where did they come from? Alpha Centuri!
The Aliens should be called something like the Centurians (to reflect where they came from) start landing in droves shooting laser bolts aimlessly into the cities since they have no weapons on the spacecrafts, however they have shields, very powerful shields... (The opposite of humans who don't have shields at all - too expensive). John "Flashback" Johnson straps on his boots and his luchador mask and grabs the nearest Railgun, and is sent in by the new quickly reconfigured New United Nations Intelligence Agency (NUNIA) a new united world government just to make it "US vs. Them". John "Flashback" Johnson is chosen since he has the most experience in war after fighting more battle than anyone in the Great Robot-War of 2987.
John "Flashback" Johnson fights his way through the alien hordes in every major city and even on the moon where their mother ship landed (in one mission he needs to steal one of their spacecrafts - but it's no problem even though he's never flown before and the craft is completely alien he has no trouble flying it (in fact he fly's it much better than they ever could).
Eventually he becomes the major thorn in their side not to be confused with a comical yet informed Major Thorn who should resemble someone like Rip Torn who is able to give a briefing before every mission John "Flashback" Johnson is sent on, no matter where John "Flashback" Johnson goes like even when he's on the moon he still receives letters somehow that is read aloud as if Thorn is right there beside him.
01/02/2007 (12:48 pm)
The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson in... The Invasion of the Aliens from Alpha Centuri!It's hundreds of years in the future the Great Robot-War of 2987 is ancient history for some, for others like our hero John "Flashback" Johnson it's still a burning memory. John "Flashback" Johnson is a soldier, he always will be as it's all he knows but the battlefield of the future is unlike anything before.
Lucha libre is the only form of dispute settlement, the UN now called the "New UN" is shaped like a HUGE wrestling arena and luchadors fight for their countries pulling awesome flips and tackles to the death. Worldwide gambling is prominent but one can only wager a new world currency used only in these events called... Quatloo's and it usually takes at least 400 to wager on any newcomer representing his or her country.
The match is televised and are under very strict security to prevent tampering which the new intelligence agencies of the countries focus on "How can we cheat!?" Anyway so all is going well and our main character; an up and coming new luchador is fighting for his country and during a fight there's this huge rumbling outside and all these pyramid shaped spacecrafts start landing over major cities and where did they come from? Alpha Centuri!
The Aliens should be called something like the Centurians (to reflect where they came from) start landing in droves shooting laser bolts aimlessly into the cities since they have no weapons on the spacecrafts, however they have shields, very powerful shields... (The opposite of humans who don't have shields at all - too expensive). John "Flashback" Johnson straps on his boots and his luchador mask and grabs the nearest Railgun, and is sent in by the new quickly reconfigured New United Nations Intelligence Agency (NUNIA) a new united world government just to make it "US vs. Them". John "Flashback" Johnson is chosen since he has the most experience in war after fighting more battle than anyone in the Great Robot-War of 2987.
John "Flashback" Johnson fights his way through the alien hordes in every major city and even on the moon where their mother ship landed (in one mission he needs to steal one of their spacecrafts - but it's no problem even though he's never flown before and the craft is completely alien he has no trouble flying it (in fact he fly's it much better than they ever could).
Eventually he becomes the major thorn in their side not to be confused with a comical yet informed Major Thorn who should resemble someone like Rip Torn who is able to give a briefing before every mission John "Flashback" Johnson is sent on, no matter where John "Flashback" Johnson goes like even when he's on the moon he still receives letters somehow that is read aloud as if Thorn is right there beside him.
#10
Anyway so he fights all the way to the queen, who offers him a position with her to rule the galaxy but it's important to take on Earth first because they're still "leveling up" and before they take on a galaxy superpower they are going to take on as many small planets as they can for experience. John "Flashback" Johnson disagrees with a clever saying like "Let's fight" kills her which in turn causes every alien and ship to explode somehow. During the mother ship explosion John "Flashback" Johnson parachutes from the moon back down to Earth and receives a parade. He returns to a united Earth never to experience war every again, oh and his flashbacks and nightmares disappear.
During the game John "Flashback" Johnson has hallucinations when he looks at stuff that remind him of the Great Robot-War of 2987. It also allows him to fight faster in an awesome bullet-time feature.
There's also a female love interest called "Shellshock" like Duke Nukem Forever's "Bombshell". They fought in the war together but never got together and there's like a deep story between them oh and he also rescues her from the evil queen of the centurians.
In the game you only have one weapon but it never runs out of ammo and its rapid fire. You can zoom in with it and it's got like 4 different firing modes from rapid single, rapid double, rapid triple and rapid quadruple. The game most resembles chess. Also if you get close to your opponents you can use wrestling moves and pins and flips to beat on them for fun.
01/02/2007 (12:49 pm)
The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson in... The Invasion of the Aliens from Alpha Centuri! Continued...Anyway so he fights all the way to the queen, who offers him a position with her to rule the galaxy but it's important to take on Earth first because they're still "leveling up" and before they take on a galaxy superpower they are going to take on as many small planets as they can for experience. John "Flashback" Johnson disagrees with a clever saying like "Let's fight" kills her which in turn causes every alien and ship to explode somehow. During the mother ship explosion John "Flashback" Johnson parachutes from the moon back down to Earth and receives a parade. He returns to a united Earth never to experience war every again, oh and his flashbacks and nightmares disappear.
During the game John "Flashback" Johnson has hallucinations when he looks at stuff that remind him of the Great Robot-War of 2987. It also allows him to fight faster in an awesome bullet-time feature.
There's also a female love interest called "Shellshock" like Duke Nukem Forever's "Bombshell". They fought in the war together but never got together and there's like a deep story between them oh and he also rescues her from the evil queen of the centurians.
In the game you only have one weapon but it never runs out of ammo and its rapid fire. You can zoom in with it and it's got like 4 different firing modes from rapid single, rapid double, rapid triple and rapid quadruple. The game most resembles chess. Also if you get close to your opponents you can use wrestling moves and pins and flips to beat on them for fun.
#11
01/02/2007 (12:49 pm)
You can have The adventures of John "Flashback" Johnson in... The Invasion of the Aliens from Alpha Centuri! go ahead, it's yours! You need this more than I do. 
Torque Owner KrisL
first I like to say that I have always admired people that are trying to make their own game.
Such a task is very complex and not easy to do, so respect to all of you out there.
About the story. I must admit when I look at the story of any FPS... they are always cheese.
I have a few questions about your story:
* Why were the people kidnapped?
* Why is there a brainwashing station?
* Why are they koncking Greywolf out, and showing him a hostage?
(They could easily kill him and get on with their plans)
* Where was the man that started everything in the beginning?
hmmm... very confusing.
But like I said before I cannot remember any FPS with a good story...
Actually I read alot of gamedeveloper articles,
and by far I can say that it takes more than a backstory for a game.
Did you think about gamefeatures? If not, than you should first start there.
The reason is that the first question about a game is always what makes this game so Special,
why is it better than any other game in this genre?
And please don't say that the special features are cool graphics and epic music.
best regards