Okay here’s a question: you are given 200 millions dollars, but there is a caveat. You must use that money to create a video game. You can make any video game you want — anything. In addition, you are allowed to keep 20% of the net profits that game makes. What do you create, how do you do it? How do you manage the funds?
Tell us dammit!
Personally, I have no idea what I would do. Maybe I would buy a license, and spend the time and money making a great game based on that license. That might be the safest route. But would you want to play it safe? Would you create a new IP.
What would you do?
I would make an mmo with no subscription and an actual end. Such that your character gets retired at the end. Andthe final fight would be hard and require real cooperation and teamwork.
*flails*
I'd want to make a really long, detailed RPG - something like what Obsidian or Bioware does - and use the money to give a huge team time to do it properly.
Actually, make that KOTOR 3. Not an MMO, but a really good RPG.
Would love a KOTOR before the Jedi even knew of the Sith. A real beginning to their eternal struggle for balance in the universe.
Or very similar a Elder Scrolls game, again a prequel before Necromancers and the like were outlawed and such.
I would use the money to bribe Square Enix and get them to make another Chrono series sequel. And maybe even a remake of Chrono Cross.
Your jib; I like the cut of it.
A modern, graphically up to date, client runescape game.
Say what you want, but I love how PVP works and I'm actually a fan of the profession system. What I'm not a fan of is the java based browser game it is and the graphics + lag that comes with it.
Borderlands MMO...or Bioshock 3(not infinite, set in Rapture)...or a new game based on China Mieville's 'Perdido St Station' or Neal Asher's 'The Skinner'.
Personally? I would create a game that allows you to play a character from birth to death and govern all life choices he/she makes. I'd force some sort of obstacle for the character to overcome, that divides the planet, like say, a new plague, nanotechnology or something similar and then allow the character's choices to govern how the rest of the world or area develops as a result of the player's actions. The choices would be subtle, not like, press a or b to choose who dies, but the game would learn from the player. Like say, hey, this guy is trying to avoid casualties, so there's an increase non-lethal law enforcement technology etc. That would be my ideal project at the moment.
I'd make something similar to you in a way. Basically I'd want to make a game that captures that brief period in games like Dreamfall: The Longest Journey where she's just walking around the markets and bumps into her ex and such. Or the very start of Mirror's Edge where you're literally still only a glorified courier and you're in a big city just doing your (albeit) exciting job. Or the start of Spiderman, the latest reboot, where he's just a teenager going to school, or even the first third of the first Transformers film, which was definitely the most 'human' part of the entire franchise. The best part about the Uncharted games was NEVER the gunplay, if anything that dragged the whole series down, it was always the moments that seemed more like a movie than anything else.
There are so many games with non stop action and guns and everything, but I have always wanted to play a game like the film 500 Days Of Summer that's NOT an indie, 2d game. Mixing the best parts of GTA, The Sims, Gameplay mechanics borrowed from Groundhog Day (either the day repeats until you can work out what to do correctly. Obviously the game couldn't be too long.) or a more permanent, branching storyline where each choice and failure affects the narrative in irreversible ways.
All we have now in the AAA scene, with a few exceptions, is Action games that make you shoot, punch, or kill your way out of situations. The whole thing is focused on one particular genre of media. If the games industry were the movie industry, it would be like releasing a new The Expendables every 6 months, if it were the music industry it would be a new Nu-Metal album every 6 months.
That is why nobody outside the industry takes it seriously. There's only one genre that gets any money, and that's action.
PS. All this is said from a massive Halo / Gears Of War fan, I love shooters and action games, but I'm sick of that being all you can buy.
Like Fable?
Some sort of Hollywood themed zombie 3/fps mmo/rpg where popular A list actors are used for voice and character modelling, Sort of a cross between just cause 2 MP, Skyrim and Dayz Sure we could use up that budget pretty quick.
Last edited October 4, 2012 11:14 am
A Fallout MMO... And a cross-platform VITA port! Oh you want a detailed analysis of how I would handle the funds? Lot's and lot's of alco-mahol's for my employees...
Coincidentally, there's actually a fan made Fallout MMO called FOnline:2238 that I stumbled across today. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but it's free and it looks interesting.
Where do I send my resume?
I'd buy the rights to Eternal Darkness, Shadowman and Banjo Kazooie and give them the 2013 treatment they deserve. 50 mill for each game and the rest on advertising.
I'd make half-life 3
Please don't. Please leave it to Valve who know what they're doing, even if it's taking them a damn long time.
You could bribe Valve with the money to make HL3?
Dungeon Keeper 3
Lock all ex-Rare staff into a room (think Saw lol) & don't let them come out until they've created a real Perfect Dark sequel or Banjo 3!!
Pirate MMO
Ninja MMO
Cowboys suck MMO
Are multiple games allowed? Because I'd want to start with a series of smaller games (platformers, shmups, some experimental, etc.) to build a team/tech/organisational system/etc. for working up to larger projects so as to keep a revenue stream and build both staff and customer loyalty for when the big titles come out.
Super Metroid "REMAKE", not a HD re-release.
^ This or "Metroid Dread". But only if we can resurrect the DEER FORCE gods.
I'd buy out Namco Bandai if possible, or just the right to the tales series and make a complete remake of Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss and maybe Tales of Destiny 2 and chuck it all into one big collection for PS3 or the next playstation console.
I'd also work on getting Tales of Vesperia PS3 over here
I'm tossing up between 2 choices.
1. An open world pirate game, with gameplay in a similar vein to Sid Meier's game, though considerably expanded, with a more Fable like system for fights through ships and similar. It's also narratively driven, with a story involving time travel, and pop culture references that nobody understands.
2. Also an open world game, but set in Hogwarts. Looking at the Harry Potter games, the stand out part was always the school. So imagine a fully budgeted open world game set there? Its story goes over a student you creates time there, going to classes, derping about, using magic, so on and so forth, with a Bioware style system for choices. You can end up in any house, going about doing your thing. You could play Quidditch, go down to Hogsmeade, throw spells at teachers, whatever. Oh, and you're about... Maybe only one, not sure. So the framing of the novels gives overarching themes, even if you're not directly affected. Main problem here is that you end up with something that just sounds like bad fan fiction...
Everyone would be playing a girl who's blue-haired, purple-eyed, American, gorgeous but insecure, and dating one or both of the Weasley twins, who of course never left school or anything else. And possibly also dating Malfoy. And Snape. And the game designers have to create a fifth house called Aether to support their shimmering and unique personality.
In all seriousness, I would absolutely LOVE a Hogwarts RPG. What an amazing idea.
I've always thought Hogwarts was prime for an RPG, a seven-year complementary plotline set around the events of the books. Kind of like the co-op expansion on PS2 for Half Life - where the world you play in is set around something bigger. There were plenty of things glossed over in the books which you could frame a levelling-based RPG around.
I'd flee to a place that has no extradition treaty and spend it all on hookers and drugs.
I'd stick the money in a bank and begin working on a script while it accrued interest.
After the script was done I'd use the money to bring DoubleFine into the fold and begin work in ernest, troubleshooting and learning as I go.
Buy license for Zelda, make a sequel to Wind Waker with a massive, massive world, with hundreds of islands - a few as large (and perhaps including) the Hyrule landmass of OOT, and Termina from Majoras Mask.
There would of course be multiple major quests to follow (all marked on the map), but you are free to go off the beaten path to find smaller storylines and many different people to meet and help.
So if I were to sum this up with some blatant copying of other titles, Wind Waker, Skyrim, GTA and a liberal dose of Nintendo fanwank had a baby and it became my game.
EDIT
and because this is my fantasy land and I can do what I want, this game would be multi platform so that I rake in more profit.
Last edited October 4, 2012 11:36 am
Diablo 4.... same as diablo 3 but with less fuk ups :) and more game to it
Brink 2
Build a decent Australian publishing company, with in-house development team.
Focus on consolidating with Australian game developers, both indie and mainstream, with the goal of largely breaking away from overseas publishers.
Strengthen game dev culture and community in Australia, then market and showcase the best of that to the world.
There is a lot of great talent here in Australia that is seriously under-utilised, I'd use the money to change that.
This man here knows the score.
200 million is pretty substantial, even in terms of games development. I dare say it'd go some way to finally dragging the local industry out of the transitional period that its been stuck in for the last few years into the vibrant and successful industry that it continues to inch towards.
This. As an artist of nearly 6 years in Aussie industry, this NEEDS to happen. Best answer yet.
I would make a 2D platform-adventure game where the key goal does not involve killing things to win. One that would make players use their head and it would be hard as hell too, like Dark Souls meets Abes Oddysee meets Another World.
And I would get a good 2D studio to work with me on it.
Perhaps WayForward.
Yeah, that would be nice.
*actually after reading crispus' response I would like to change my response to work with local talent too. There are a lot of awesome devs here.
Last edited October 4, 2012 11:44 am
I would create one that took advantage of the upcoming Microsoft releases where you create a game that is available via all Microsoft platforms. Win8 desktop/laptop/tablet, Win8 Phone and Xbox (glass view maybe) as this will allow the player to be anywhere and still able to enjoy the game. Over time this can be exported to other mobile phone devices and Mac Computers.
So many ideas.
I'd be tempted to try and make a BioWare style Superhero RPG. Create your hero, pick a playable origin story for them, recruit other heroes as your form your own version of The Avengers/Justice League to take on some big bad guy, romance those heroes you've recruited, big focus on dialogue choices etc. Combat would be action based, like Prototype or inFamous. Unlike a BioWare game you'd get some really large environments to explore. Like there would be one huge city for your character to run around in but there would also be other large zones you can go to and quest at. The zones would have to be large to best utilize your movement powers (flight, speed, car etc).
Side quests would also be a little more indepth than BioWare games. The main focus of the story would be the big bad you're assembling your team to fight against, but the side quests would be fairly indepth as well. The sidequests would have you dealing with the normal super villains that inhabit the city and surrounding areas. Like foiling a villains plot to raise a robot army or another villain who's stolen a gem to power his super weapon. They'd be more like quest chains than single side quests. You'd also have to help your companions facing their arch enemies. Gear wouldn't really play any role in this game. You wouldn't kill an enemy and find a cape of +1 strength. There would be no stats (it's an action game after all). You'd get a huge amount of costume pieces available to you from the get go that would let you customize your hero to look how you want them to look. The power set would also be fairly diverse. You wouldn't be limited like you are in other Superhero games with your power basically being your class. You wouldn't choose to have fire powers and then be stuck with them for the whole game. You'd be able to pick the ability to throw a fireball, the ability to tunnel through the ground, tech gadgets etc. No restrictions on what powers you can take.
Keeping with the superhero theme, I'd love to be given access to some of DC's characters and give them the Arkham Asylum/City treatment.
A sandbox zombie RPG, with multiplayer aspects, would also be on my list. Think Day Z meets L4D meets Fallout meets Minecraft. It'd be an FPS. You'd have the ability to create your own weapons, not silly weapons like Dead Rising but proper things like a nail through a plank or taping a flashlight to your gun (which isn't actually a new weapon but shut up) and you'd have the ability to create traps for the zombies and barricade doors and stuff. The environment would be fairly
destructible.