You have ten billion pounds to make one game. Go.

So you're given control of a studio to make one game before you die. What do you make? I'll kick us off.

The Ultimate Godzilla Game


I've always had a lot of time for the King of the Monsters, and I've even enjoyed his games on GameCube, Wii, DS and even iPhone. However, I don't think any of his games have really captured his most defining characteristic; his size.
 
My game would see you playing as a human in an fps, travelling to cities which are being attacked by various kaiju from the Godzilla films. In each city, there would be smaller monsters as well, obviously, and some sort of alien menace which is the force behind the monsters. But the main monster would be this indefatigable menace, more like a stage hazard than an enemy. 

The aliens would be using some sort of anti-Godzilla wave or shield or something, and your objective  would be to take it out. Only when that's fine would play swap to Godzilla, and you'd fight the monster so by this point, the scale of the thing is established and the city you're wrecking is the same one you'd previously experienced at human size.

Obviously, some levels  would mix it up. Maybe you'd need to lead an evac as the human character while Godzilla had his fight, or you'd need to protect the humans in the Godzilla section, or there'd be a level where there are two monsters and it switches between fighting one as Godzilla and trying to keep the other one at bay as the human.

For the developer, I'd go with either Retro or Naughty Dog. ND could deliver the spectacle and the cinematic element but I wouldn't want it to be too linear. Obviously there are going to be accepted moments, but I'd want there to be more than one route through each level. I feel like Retro would be more likely to throw some originality in there.

For console, Wii u, although to pull it off without every monster encounter being scripted might actually require the power of one of the Big Black Boxes.

Would £10m buy you that much in this day and age?  I'd bet that the really big AAA games have budgets many times the size of that.  I'm going to assume infinite moneys - let me know if you meant otherwise, and I'll rein in my ambition.

Nintendo probably know what I want better than I do anyway.  However:

Zelda/Okami as a dragon

The Zelda franchise is one of my absolute favourites.  It'll take an amazing, amazing game to topple Twilight Princess in my books (or, y'know, a TP-like game that didn't look like it had come out of the back end of a Call of Duty game).  I love the structure, the swordplay, the use of items.  My ideal game would be like that.  But it could go one better, if the main character had the ability to fly.



And not like that.  None of this "Skyloft-sky-world below" split.  A continuous world, where you can leap off the ground, beat your wings and fly to wherever in the world you choose... bar blockages, or where you need to use an item to get through.  Or dungeons and houses, if there's not room to spread your wings.  Obviously there would be limits, to prevent the game being completely sequence-broken.  

I'm imagining you starting on terra firma, possibly a small island in the middle of nowhere or something, and flying up to a series of islands, or across the nowhere to other town, or even out into space to other planets.  The overworld would be like a smaller more vertical Great Ocean, only with more going on between the lumps of rock.  Then you'd have your standard Zelda towns and dungeons, and the dungeons would need a way to stop you flying all over the place apart from in certain areas.  I wouldn't mind artificial restrictions like "malevolent influences hindering your wings" so long as they made sense in the context of the story.  You'd get items to solve puzzles and beat bosses and unlock new areas.

And yes, the swordplay would use Motion+, and you'd have airborne swordfights that would somehow not be horribly complicated to implement/frustrating to play.



Regarding aesthetics, I'm thinking the more colourful parts of Okami (HD), because I'm a sucker for stereotypical Japanese trappings.  Maybe more Skyward Sword in visual style, but I'd like to see very Japan-influenced locations, characters and monsters.  You'd be based on the more Japanese dragons, more Dragonite than Salamence (although yes of course you'd be able to breathe fire).  The soundtrack would be a mixture of Okami-style samisen-and-taiko, and SMG's orchestral bombast, composed by David Wise and Mahito "Mr. SMG" Yokota.

Developers?  Some mixture of Nintendo, Retro and MonolithSoft.  Console?  Well it wouldn't work without Motion+, but I suspect that my ambition is too grand for the Wii U's power, like yours.  Especially the aerial overworld.  Nintendo's next console, then!



Alternatively to all that, SM64 2 with the Galaxy team working on it.

---

The Godzilla parts of your game sound like great fun, Drunka, but I couldn't be doing with the FPS bits.  But that's just me. You'd have to be careful to make sure that while you felt less powerful as a human, it wasn't less fun (for your average FPS-loving gamer).  Maybe get the Titanfall chaps in to balance things.

This is a good thread idea - I'll post my idea once I've had more time to think.

Balla: I like the idea, but I can't help but feel having this great power of flight but being cordoned off to certain areas would be somewhat frustrating. The reason a lot of RPGs don't give you your airship till the end of the game is because flight is game-breaking in terms of exploration. I'd be personally annoyed at getting blown away from somewhere you really shouldn't be at that moment in time. Air combat would be sweet though, if worked correctly.

Give the money to SEGA to make Shenmue III   

I will have a serious think on what I would make but I have two ways to go about this, something to make money or something I would want to play.

You'd consider just using that money to make a game to make more money?  Points for thinking outside the Pokéball, I guess, but what if you only get the one chance to have the studios listen to you, regardless of money?


Drunka: I'm just thinking it might be the equivalent of a sugar/caffeine crash, coming back from being Godzilla to being a piddly little human again.  I'm sure that it wouldn't matter if they/you got the human mechanics right.


As for flying, I was thinking less ALBW (I prefer the linearity of previous Zeldas - getting items in a set order, building up your arsenal, the dungeons and build-up having a story purpose and so on) and more WW.  Yes you can fly to that island/floating lump of rock, but if there's a stone head/gale there and you don't have the item, you're a bit screwed.  I think there'd also be numerous ways that I personally wouldn't mind with regards to sealing off areas: a volcanic area where an ongoing eruption prevents landing, any one of torrential downpour/thunderbolts/gale-force winds, or even having some areas up in space and requiring an item to breathe!  (Not a fishbowl: that'd be silly.)

Spoiler:

There could also be weaknesses to having your wings open to compensate for the freedom of flight.  Maybe they're extra-vulnerable to heat or cold, so the game can use the Death Mountain method to stop you flying to places you shouldn't; or they can get blown about, or flop around uselessly underwater; you could even be the one dragon without natural wings, and they're a pair of metallic replicas, and they conduct electricity/are vulnerable to magnetism/rusting/overheating.

I could go on for days about this, but I won't. 

No, please do, that's the fun.
Mas, you're missing the point!

Part of me thinks it would work best if the human bits were tense, scary and very underpowered, more like a survival horror, so the Godzilla bits would be that much more rewarding.

GNamer: The GNGame.

EXPLORE! A world with literally about ten people in it.
INVENT! Witty taglines.
TALK! Bollocks.
ALLEGE! To edit a podcast in a timely fashion.

beemoh wrote:

GNamer: The GNGame.

EXPLORE! A world with literally about ten people in it.
INVENT! Witty taglines.
TALK! Bollocks.
ALLEGE! To edit a podcast in a timely fashion.

Uh oh - pub's have just shut... it's time for a boss battle! Here comes Drunka! Dodge misspellings! Laughing makes him stronger! Once he's down to half health, a rabid angry mole joins the fight! Can you endure the alcoholic barrage? Pick up GNamer: The GNGame today!

JayMoyles wrote:

Uh oh - pub's have just shut... it's time for a boss battle! Here comes Drunka! Dodge misspellings!!

"Like playing Typing Of The Dead with boxing gloves on." -CVG

beemoh wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

Uh oh - pub's have just shut... it's time for a boss battle! Here comes Drunka! Dodge misspellings!!

"Like playing Typing Of The Dead with boxing gloves on." -CVG

"Rip-roaring fun, best game we've played all year. 5/10" - EDGE

tongue planted firmly in cheek, natch

Infinite Odyssey

Right my idea of a game is a 3rd person co-op based shooter were you play as a set of twins voiced by Troy Baker & Courtney Draper called Ken and Jade, set in a post-apocalyptic world which has a colorful yet but dark theme think enslaved. Each twin has different abilities; Ken is stronger so has better melee combat and can push things etc. & carries up to 2 weapons whilst Jade is quicker & nimble which allows her to climb over things and is a better aim. The enemies in the game are zombie/mutant creatures which became diseased after the bio-weapons used during World War III, not much of the world is left but a city remains which you are heading to. The city is run by a religious cult whom believe WWIII was actually all part of god’s plan & that those left were chosen, the leader of the cult Kotick is voiced by Nolan North whom has several people running districts in the city which includes a female character called Claudia voiced by Jennifer Hale whom Ken falls for. You find out WWIII was all Kotick’s idea to wipe out the unpure and to rule the world.

The game plays like Gear of War crossed with Uncharted, so not sure who I would want actually make this game but I think I would go with Irrational though if they were still around but as there not, I’m going to go with maybe an odd choice as this is shooter but Ninja Theory.

Another important thing would be the soundtrack which I would get Garry Schyman to do.

masofdas wrote:

the leader of the cult Kotick

...Bobby?

Yes, all my characters are named after people in gaming.

That's a bit far fetched mas. I know this is all hypothetical, but if you go for something no game company would ever publish, it's hard for the rest of us to imagine it. Can't you think of something a bit more conventional?

Drunkalilly wrote:

That's a bit far fetched mas. I know this is all hypothetical, but if you go for something no game company would ever publish, it's hard for the rest of us to imagine it. Can't you think of something a bit more conventional?

  

Well Bioshock Infinite has a religious cult for instance. And there's been stuff before when the good guy turns out to be the villain. Only thing I can see which you can't imagine using those names for the characters.

Oh I'm going to self publish as to keep costs down I'm using unreal 4 engine licence but nearly all my budget has gone on voice work & music though.

>knock out quick match-three puzzler
>spend rest on fizzy drinks and rugby players

Drunkalilly wrote:

That's a bit far fetched mas. I know this is all hypothetical, but if you go for something no game company would ever publish, it's hard for the rest of us to imagine it. Can't you think of something a bit more conventional?

Fantastic.

beemoh wrote:

GNamer: The GNGame.

So many ideas for this.  Well, two.  The first being a tower defence game, based on that fanfiction thing wot I dun (use the wrestling thread, witty taglines, and the almighty Banhammer to stop Reggie's massive face breaking the forum!), and the other's like Game & Wario only better.  Examples of games:

Stu: Puzzle game, whereby you align coloured blocks to make forum code.  Extra points for matching ones of the same colour, because colour clashes are a gay man's worst nightmare.

Balladeer: Action fly-em-up where you play as Mega Absol, flying through the skies and dodging misplaced apostrophes, BBoPs and bits of Dark Souls miscellania.

Masofdas: A Mario game with Sonic as the main character.  Mario's killed the Dreamcast, and you need to collect the magic MacGuffins (new Sonic game, Shenmue III, a good Samba de Amigo) to revive it!

Cappuccino: A really anime-looking JRPG, only every time you get into a random battle or someone talks to you, your Will-to-Live gauge goes down.  Objective is to get through it as quickly as possible so that you can play Mas' game instead.

I have more!  Will get back to Buska's, Mas' and my ideas shortly.

I like the sound of my game there Balla.

Drunka on mine being farfetched but I have this idea you play a Overweight Spaniard who's a electrician that's transported to magical world called fungus kingdom where you decide to save really hot redhead who's been kidnapped by a talking dinosaur.

masofdas wrote:

I like the sound of my game there Balla.

Drunka on mine being farfetched but I have this idea you play a Overweight Spaniard who's a electrician that's transported to magical world called fungus kingdom where you decide to save really hot redhead who's been kidnapped by a talking dinosaur.

Kickstarter. Now.

Spider-Man
 
Few of Spider-Man's games have captured the true essence of being the hero and doing whatever a spider can. I want to address this by having a sprawling epic that takes in as many of the major storylines from the comic as possible as well as having a truly superb control system. Arkham City makes me feel like I'm in control of The Batman - let's have a similar set-up for Spider-Man! You'd have to include all the things the webbing can do (making sure the lines are always attached to something - I've played more than one Spider-Man title where it felt like they were hanging off clouds), up to the stuff running out mid-battle without warning.
 
Spidey is also a bit of an acrobat so I think you should have different movement styles that you could toggle, perhaps. Stealthy, running, normal... I don't know, maybe I've gone mad with the money. All's I know is that the definitive Spider-Man game has yet to exist, and this budget could make it so. A sprawling 3D action game like this could be made by Rockstar North or Rocksteady.
 
Drunka: I'd play that Godzilla game - with the right storyline it could be a cracker.
 
Balla: anything to be involved in a world like Okami again, but hopefully with better combat!
 
mas: not normally a fan of cover-based shooters but I'd give it a go.
 
beemoh: I'd buy that for se - *is never found again*

ZeroJones wrote:

You'd have to include all the things the webbing can do (making sure the lines are always attached to something - I've played more than one Spider-Man title where it felt like they were hanging off clouds), up to the stuff running out mid-battle without warning.

I feel like the webbing running out would grow tiresome traversing the city, but I like the idea of managing it in battle. Basically, just remake Spider Man 2 and chuck a load of villains in, that'd be my perfect Spider Man game.

One of the few games that I've regretted not playing on other consoles was Just Cause 2, because of the freedom it gave you.  If you could staple Spidey onto that, with all his webby powers (and perhaps slightly more realistic momentum), I'd be interested in that!  Especially if it were cel-shaded like the actual comics.


I don't have much to say on Mas' game, really.  It's all fairly standard zombie/war shootybang fare, as Drunka was none-too-subtly suggesting, apart from the final boss being named after a popularly loathed figure.  Not my sort of genre.  I like your second idea though, especially if the electrician starts using his devices to clear obstacles.  Repairing wires to open a door, diverting current to shock a boss...  oh no I'm taking the joke suggestion seriously!

Drunkalilly wrote:

Part of me thinks it would work best if the human bits were tense, scary and very underpowered, more like a survival horror, so the Godzilla bits would be that much more rewarding.

But then it wouldn't sell, because people who like one half wouldn't like... Whoops, almost missed the point there!  It's all about what you'd enjoy, after all.  If you'd have fun going from cower to crush, then go for it!

Drunkalilly wrote:

No, please do, that's the fun.

O-kay then.  Two things I was thinking about: side-character and air fighting.  For the side-character:

Stream of consciousness-ish below:

TL;DR: He's an angry spirit trapped in a scarf, which is used as an item and gets more uses as time goes on.

Air fighting is trickier.  Obviously you couldn't use Motion+ to fly because it's doing sword duty, so you'd need to soar using the analogue stick and possibly an accelerator.  Then for fighting itself, I can see your soaring speed (dependent on whether you're going downwards, so altitude becomes key) determining whether your slash breaks through the enemies' defences or gets deflected.  Might devolve to swooping in and slashing wildly, but some sort of mid-air dodge wouldn't be hard to implement.  Maybe if you dodge an enemies' charge, you get a slow-mo opportunity to counterattack; but they can pull out of the charge at the last minute to fake you out.

You could hover in place with a lock-on too, which would sacrifice momentum (and thus power of strikes, chance of breaking through the foe's defences etc.) for precision.  Use your accelerator to hover slowly inwards while your movement stick controls left-right and up-down, or vice versa (have an option in Options to change that).  

It doesn't need to be too precise: TP's horseback fighting was pretty approximate, and that was still great.


Finally, more GName & Wario ideas:

Spoiler: