Un(der) used game settings

[Awor Szurkrarz]

It's hilarious how often games in historical settings end up being ridiculously unhistorical, even so much that people who've only watched a documentary on Discovery Channel will notice.
And then, after the game's release, if it's popular enough, a couple of history nerds jump in to do a historical correctness mod for free.

Why can't the devs just hire those guys in the first place?

Because they know they'll jump in for free anyway?

 

[oscar]

Hammer & Sickle had a pretty underused setting, 1949 Germany where you play as a Soviet agent. Open ended depending on your decisions and how you complete things. Mess things up enough or take too long and World War III can even be triggered.

 

[Grim Monk]

Tzaero posted this in the "best thread" ever a while back.

A fan made rendering of the Blade Runner's LA in UT 2004.






Edit:

Also E.Y.E Divine Cybermancy which I've just finished.

Its a game made on the Source Engine by 12 guys...



Why Has No One Made A "Indie" Deus Ex?

The original game used Unreal Engine 1, and did not have mind blowing graphics.
I don't need every blade of grass to be lovingly crafted, I'll pay good money if they simply get the "varied play styles" aspect right.

Plus you can make aesthetically great levels with "old engines", as shown by the first video.


Why don't the teams that made stuff like "TNM" or "2027", simply grab a engine and make a Cyberpunk Dues Ex Knock Off...



Makes me sad...

 

[oscar]

That is seriously awesome.

 

[Johannes]

"Ordinary present-day world" should probably have no combat either.

Try being violent sometime, if you pick your fights right it definitely can pay off. Don't fight to death though.

 

[Revenant]

A historical RPG set in medieval Lithuania could be done interestingly, I suppose. The Church wages a crusade against the last pagan kingdom in Europe, and the player character is thrust into the middle of this conflict. Do quests for both the crusaders and the hitmen, and decide the outcome of the conflict like in Gothic 3.

Also, any historical RPG would have room to implement a realistic weapon system, I.E. which weapon goes against which type of armor and stuff. I'm totally tired of this one handed/two handed "system" found in nearly all modern RPGs that treats a sword and a mace as the same weapon type.

 

[GaffQ]

Dark and gritty, hard-boiled (cyberpunk) detective stories, set in a (mining) colony on Ganymede, Callisto or Io. And a luxurious casino hotel.

 

[laclongquan]

A fucking Total Recall game :fap:

 

[almondblight]

That's why I think there exists the potential for the existance of a Oriental Fallout, hidding somewhere in some indie site in some weird moonspeak. Just like Eador, which was hidden away in Glorious Mother Russia by foreign language and bad PR.

Here's a group of Chinese Black Isle fans if you're interested: http://www.douban.com/group/blackisle/

But it seems like they're mostly playing western games (Witcher, Dragon Age, Torchlight, etc.).

 

[shihonage]

A fucking Total Recall game :fap:

You can say these things, but how would they work? One phrase does not magically create a workable gameplay setting. What IS the Total Recall setting? How can you make a non-linear RPG there and yet retain the coolness of the original movie? And without the linearity, doesn't that setting just become "The Future, Marty!" ?

The same criticism can be applied to many other suggestions in this thread.

For instance, most settings that take place in "reality", i.e. "medieval [country]", will require the game to twist them into something that is neither real nor authentic. Such is the nature of a game. Necessary simplification of interactions, abstraction of complex relationships and large settlements, and most importantly, a limited set of proven mechanics that go against how most societies "work".

Most historical settings have a regime. When you start going against that regime, it will destroy you. You want to have a game set in 1939 Nazi Germany? Well, you can't have a series of settlements to adventure about and buy weapons from NPCs that reward you for killing Nazis. Germany is a regime. Even if those NPCs are "resistance", historical authenticity, the primary appeal of such a setting, will start crumbling. Also, how do you scale up the enemies? Nazis in Power Armor?

You want to be in "Dredd 3D"? Well, if you kill people, Judges will stomp you into a bloodstain. You want to play as a Judge, you say? Or Robocop? Well, then you are entirely railroaded by a set of rules and regulations.

Ok, you want to be a rogue judge? Outside the law? Well then, a whole territory needs to be created within Dredd universe which is not regulated and patrolled, and now you created your alternate branch of Dredd universe which has little to do with the original. Or, you want to stick around inside the original, then you better watch out for random encounters with overpowered Judges (you are Judge at lvl 1, amirite?), and also good luck portraying a giant sprawling metropolis with millions of people without making it into a caricature.

Genuine post-apocalyptic and pre-civilized settings do not have these problems. Desolate settings, in Wild-West sort of scenarios, where affiliations and laws aren't strong, and everyone is out for themselves. Another benefit of "destroyed" settings is that you don't need to build humongous cities of the future chock-full of people, and this creates less of an abstraction gap between the intent and actual presentation.

Compare Star Trek TNG planets, where every planet is a stupid village (which nonetheless has its own religion and shit), and Firefly's outer planets, where they are tiny poor settlements by folks exploring the galaxy and trying to make a buck. The former abstraction is ridiculous, while the latter looks believable and requires about the same amount of actors and sets.

In short, the settings that work best in RPGs rely either on 1) railroaded cinematic path (Bioware) or 2) lawless, desolate worlds.

 

[laclongquan]

Total Recall setting:

Apolycal frontier planet: dusty, gritty (literally), grimdark Mines, hydroponic farm, solar panels, domes...

Unrealistic SF future super city: gleaming domes, skytower, 3D map.

Alien ruins: whatever.

Social tensions: *Class* Brit nobles "Old chap, I say, the savages of Mars need to be taught one simple lesson: Obey, or else!" and Yankee rebels "Just let us chap your fucking ass off the planet, you useless parasites." *Race* Racial preferential treatments based on different origin Earth/Mars *Cultural* effete elitist society versus vibrant frontier spirit.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

You can say these things, but how would they work? One phrase does not magically create a workable gameplay setting. What IS the Total Recall setting? How can you make a non-linear RPG there and yet retain the coolness of the original movie? And without the linearity, doesn't that setting just become "The Future, Marty!" ?

The same criticism can be applied to many other suggestions in this thread.

For instance, most settings that take place in "reality", i.e. "medieval [country]", will require the game to twist them into something that is neither real nor authentic. Such is the nature of a game. Necessary simplification of interactions, abstraction of complex relationships and large settlements, and most importantly, a limited set of proven mechanics that go against how most societies "work".

Most historical settings have a regime. When you start going against that regime, it will destroy you. You want to have a game set in 1939 Nazi Germany? Well, you can't have a series of settlements to adventure about and buy weapons from NPCs that reward you for killing Nazis. Germany is a regime. Even if those NPCs are "resistance", historical authenticity, the primary appeal of such a setting, will start crumbling. Also, how do you scale up the enemies? Nazis in Power Armor?

You want to be in "Dredd 3D"? Well, if you kill people, Judges will stomp you into a bloodstain. You want to play as a Judge, you say? Or Robocop? Well, then you are entirely railroaded by a set of rules and regulations.

Ok, you want to be a rogue judge? Outside the law? Well then, a whole territory needs to be created within Dredd universe which is not regulated and patrolled, and now you created your alternate branch of Dredd universe which has little to do with the original. Or, you want to stick around inside the original, then you better watch out for random encounters with overpowered Judges (you are Judge at lvl 1, amirite?), and also good luck portraying a giant sprawling metropolis with millions of people without making it into a caricature.

Genuine post-apocalyptic and pre-civilized settings do not have these problems. Desolate settings, in Wild-West sort of scenarios, where affiliations and laws aren't strong, and everyone is out for themselves. Another benefit of "destroyed" settings is that you don't need to build humongous cities of the future chock-full of people, and this creates less of an abstraction gap between the intent and actual presentation.

Compare Star Trek TNG planets, where every planet is a stupid village (which nonetheless has its own religion and shit), and Firefly's outer planets, where they are tiny poor settlements by folks exploring the galaxy and trying to make a buck. The former abstraction is ridiculous, while the latter looks believable and requires about the same amount of actors and sets.

In short, the settings that work best in RPGs rely either on 1) railroaded cinematic path (Bioware) or 2) lawless, desolate worlds.

Darklands.

 

[Sranchammer]

Social Issues? Plenty! So Politically Incorrect for us it hurts. Slavery, Rampant Racism, Classicism and Religious Fanatism aplenty

I can't think of a RPG setting that doesn't deal with these ad nauseam

 

[Kirtai]

I hate you all for coming up with so many awesome ideas that'll never see the liight of day

 

[Scruffy]

an "immediately" post-apo world. The bomb went off a day ago and you need to stay in and survive, and after a couple weeks you can go out with the necessary precautions but there's literally no one, no humans whatsoever, some stray dog and cat but no human interactions, no "shops" or stuff like that and you need to find food and water and drugs to cure radiation poisoning and investigate what happened to the rest of the people and to the rest of the world, try to communicate through a radio or something, find some car batteries and set up a tv to see if there's any communication from the rest of the world, or some radio transmission telling you where to go or what to do, all the while struggling for survival. You could try and pick up some animal companion or just eat them, you could travel by walking or try to find some working car and gasoline, the main thing would be no humans for the greatest part of the game, in fact finding a human settlement would be your end-game objective. The lack of interaction could make for a different kind of gameplay. But then again, i don't know shit.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

an "immediately" post-apo world. The bomb went off a day ago and you need to stay in and survive, and after a couple weeks you can go out with the necessary precautions but there's literally no one, no humans whatsoever, some stray dog and cat but no human interactions, no "shops" or stuff like that and you need to find food and water and drugs to cure radiation poisoning and investigate what happened to the rest of the people and to the rest of the world, try to communicate through a radio or something, find some car batteries and set up a tv to see if there's any communication from the rest of the world, or some radio transmission telling you where to go or what to do, all the while struggling for survival. You could try and pick up some animal companion or just eat them, you could travel by walking or try to find some working car and gasoline, the main thing would be no humans for the greatest part of the game, in fact finding a human settlement would be your end-game objective. The lack of interaction could make for a different kind of gameplay. But then again, i don't know shit.

Something similar to that Neo Scavenger?

 

[Scruffy]

an "immediately" post-apo world. The bomb went off a day ago and you need to stay in and survive, and after a couple weeks you can go out with the necessary precautions but there's literally no one, no humans whatsoever, some stray dog and cat but no human interactions, no "shops" or stuff like that and you need to find food and water and drugs to cure radiation poisoning and investigate what happened to the rest of the people and to the rest of the world, try to communicate through a radio or something, find some car batteries and set up a tv to see if there's any communication from the rest of the world, or some radio transmission telling you where to go or what to do, all the while struggling for survival. You could try and pick up some animal companion or just eat them, you could travel by walking or try to find some working car and gasoline, the main thing would be no humans for the greatest part of the game, in fact finding a human settlement would be your end-game objective. The lack of interaction could make for a different kind of gameplay. But then again, i don't know shit.

Something similar to that Neo Scavenger?

no idea, never tried it, will look into it

 

[laclongquan]

Setting: Moon's world.

The present world is on a small planet, with a huge ball overhead. This is Moon, but could easily be Phobos/Deimos with Mars, or Ganymede of Jupiter. The graphical draw is the huge planet dominated the sky.