[BritishShivans]

You know War of the Worlds? The 2005 Spielberg one, preferably.

I had this idea about a WoTW Survival/Horror game. I'm still thinking of stuff, but I imagine abusing using certain sounds (i.e the Tripod's call) and the Tripods marching around while hiding from them could be made into a decent survival/horror. Be stealthy and hide from the Tripods while trying to escape.

Does it sound good?

[Klaustrophobia]

tbh, no.  war of the worlds is a terrible starting point for any kind of spinoff. 

[deathfun]

The antagonist is far too limited, and the fact they end up dead from simply being on Earth kinda kills the horror part. Survival sure, but horror? Na. They'll die in a few days after breathing our air and getting them microbes in their systems

[BritishShivans]

Well, the idea was to keep the 2005 Spielberg Tripods, because of loud noises and being really big in comparison to the other tripods, and for intents effectively have different characters and whatnot, given that the 2005 film was basically consisted of "OH **** TENTACLE RAPE MACHINES" and "RACHEL!"

The idea in my head is more akin to Shadow of the Colossus meets Silent Hill, albeit that you cannot kill the giants, only hope to avoid them, trying to build a sense of hopelessness whenever they're nearby. Perhaps trying to make the death of the aliens more vague, and possibly unknown might help make it more horrifying.

I'm mostly imagining use of sounds to induce terror or whatnot. Hearing things while not being able to see them can be pretty terrifying, especially if they sound strange. Add in bizarre and potentially disturbing scenery to the bits with dead Tripods could also help.

[newman]

In general, that's not how game design works. You're focusing on a single feature you find cool, and kind of want to build stuff around that. There were games that were built by that logic, and they all have one thing in common - they sucked. Proper game design that will result in a game that is all around good is far more complex than that, I'm afraid.
Also, in this case it would be much better to avoid war of the world entirely and come up with your own universe / plot / designs. The reason is two-fold; you avoid dealing with licensing issues, and it allows you to tailor the universe, plot and designs so they work best in a game. Once you decide exactly what kind of game you're aiming for and can come up with a design document that can be used to start development.

[BritishShivans]

This is just an idea anyway. Looking to narrow it down a bit, not to complete it. Otherwise I wouldn't of shared it then   

[deathfun]

Making it a stealth based game would be key
When it first starts up, it takes the unknown, survival horror type atmosphere. You've got no weapons, no idea what just happened, and now you're trying to remain incognito to a far more superior being than you

As it progresses, you meet up with a few other stragglers, survivors, who know a little more than you. Eventually, as you encounter enough people, you start to essentially build a small resistance group. It then comes down to finding weapons

So? It goes from a survival horror, to a survival horror treasure hunt, and once within the safety confines of say, a military base or bunker, the plot develops as you notice that the abandoned bunker housed knowledge on the enemy

Yourself, and the few other people you encountered, then devise a plan to ambush the enemy that you've been keeping away from all this time using this new found knowledge.

Note: If you're unsuccessful from hiding up until this point, you don't actually die, or fail. You end up being herded just like everyone else to a certain location, thus bringing you to a different style of play, a more "The Great Escape" sort of idea. This opens up different story branches as you'll never encounter, or encounter again, the very people you would have had you stayed hidden.

So if you and your group manage to take out the tripod in a successful ambush (you'll have to infer from the information gathered at the bunker on how to do it properly), it becomes something where you end up trying to figure out where these things are taking the people, and why. However, at this point in time, the game will have to introduce new enemies, foot soldiers perhaps. You're still outgunned, but can put up a decent fight if need be. This is where stealth becomes a priority, and engagement to a minimal.

[jr2]

@BritishShivans, have you played Half-Life Anthology (HL + HL: Opposing Force + HL: Blue Shift) and Half-Life 2 + HL2:Ep1 + HL2:Ep2 ?

If not, you should.  They're by Valve, you can get them from Steam.  Then you can have all sorts of fun shooting up 3-legged death machines.    (in HL2, but you really need to play HL to get the background on the characters).

Oh, and there is a Half-Life Source mod that you can buy that integrates some of the graphical goodies of HL2 into your HL gameplay.

[General Battuta]

you don't need to play hl1 to play hl2 since neither of them has much of any story and hl1 has almost nothing to do with hl2 (and no characters at all)

i actually think the bacteria-induced time limit would be a decent motivating factor for the game, since it provides a clear endpoint that isn't a deus ex machina device your character finds

[phatosealpha]

Why not put a new twist on it?

You've discovered that they will eventually be exposed to Earth microbes, and those Microbes will kill them.  However, the exposure is not one way - if our microbes can get in, then their microbes can get out.

[Mikes]

Why not put a new twist on it?

You've discovered that they will eventually be exposed to Earth microbes, and those Microbes will kill them.  However, the exposure is not one way - if our microbes can get in, then their microbes can get out.

So everybody dies? lol.

Frankly... the biggest problem with a "War of the Worlds" game would be player agency imho.

There s just not much that you can do with giant tripods vs. human survivors gameplaywise.

[jr2]

you don't need to play hl1 to play hl2 since neither of them has much of any story and hl1 has almost nothing to do with hl2 (and no characters at all)

Not true. 

Spoiler:

So, who is Barney Calhoun?  What's his significance?  How did the Combine get in to our world?  Through a portal, opened in a Black Mesa experiment... which Gordon Freeman (main character of HL and HL2) unwittingly took part in.  Barney Calhoun was a security guard at Black Mesa, who helped Gordon behind the scenes.  Adrian Shephard from HL: Opposing Force is a US Marine, whose unit was originally tasked to suppress the alien invasion, but whose directives then become to erase all traces of the incident, including any witnesses (he doesn't follow those orders, and neither does the squad of survivors he eventually joins).  I have not seen him in the HL2 series yet.  Barney, however, makes several appearances and assists you in HL2.  There are numerous inside jokes and references which you would not realize came from the original HL.

In addition, Aperture Science (from Portal and Portal 2 with the malevolent AI GLaDOS), if had decided to pursue a link between FS and Descent further, Portal would be Descent) is also mentioned, and will most likely play a significant part of HL2: Ep 3 (HL2 part 4), as one of their devices is loaded on one of their ships, the Borealis that disappeared, along with a significant portion of it's dock, and has been found in HL2:Ep2 and 'must be destroyed', according to Alyxx's father, Eli, but should be used as a weapon against the enemy according to Dr. Kleiner, one of the White Forest colleagues you meet.

Pretty much, what you just said is like saying you can also play FS2 without FS.  The questions about the storyline of HL are answered and filled in in HL2, however if you didn't play HL, you will be left wondering about certain references. 

EDIT: quote from wikipedia synopsis of HL2 (#1, not Ep1, which is #2):

Spoiler:

Half-Life 2 is a work of science fiction which presents a dystopian alternate history of Earth in which the resources of the planet, seemingly including the human species itself are being harvested by an oppressive multidimensional empire, known as the Combine. The game is set around the fictitious City 17, somewhere in Eastern Europe, almost 20 years after the events of Half-Life. During Half-Life, the scientists at the game's Black Mesa Research Facility cause an interdimensional instability, known in the series as a resonance cascade, which Gordon tries to resolve. However, by killing the overlord of the attacking "border-world", Xen, Gordon unwittingly widens the dimensional rift, which leads to disasters on Earth.

Some time after the ending of Half-Life, this instability attracts the attention of the Combine, and they invade. Humanity surrenders at the conclusion of the resulting Seven Hour War. City 17 becomes the home of the gigantic Combine Citadel, and Dr. Wallace Breen, who had managed "the Earth's surrender," is appointed there as Administrator to supervise the survivors on behalf of the Combine. Unable to procreate because of the Combine suppression field, humanity matures, and no children remain. The Combine implements a brutal police state of Civil Protection officers and Overwatch soldiers, and the underground Lambda Resistance forms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_(video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Blue_Shift
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Opposing_Force
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life:_Decay  (PS2 only, but some story line exists here that you run into in Blue Shift and Opposing Force)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2   (#1, ep 1 and 2 are parts 2 and 3 of HL2)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_One
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2:_Episode_Two

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_(video_game)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_2

[General Battuta]

jr2 i do not think you realize that you are telling me nothing i do not know

barney is not an established character until hl2, he has no appearances in hl1 (nor do any of the other hl2 character, although they're retconned in as various generic scientists/guards)

the combine are foreshadowed only in passing during hl1 by some vague nihilanth ramblings

opposing force was not made by valve and so far isn't canon

please don't waste time making long-ass posts about half-life canon in some weird attempt to explain it to somebody who knows a sad amount about the half-life canon, and for god's sake don't waste time linking to wikipedia articles i helped write 

half-life 1 is totally unnecessary to understanding or enjoying half-life 2, and i would say that new players should go so far as to start with half-life 2 and only bother with hl1 once they've finished all the hl2 episodes and portal

[deathfun]

I'll just put this here
If you didn't play HL1, and went to HL2, you wouldn't have been able to see how Gordon Freeman kicked ass at Black Mesa.

[jr2]

jr2 i do not think you realize that you are telling me nothing i do not know

barney is not an established character until hl2, he has no appearances in hl1 (nor do any of the other hl2 character, although they're retconned in as various generic scientists/guards)

o.O Dude, you are Barney in HL: Blue Shift

the combine are foreshadowed only in passing during hl1 by some vague nihilanth ramblings

opposing force was not made by valve and so far isn't canon

Point, I guess that's why Shephard doesn't make a showing in HL2

please don't waste time making long-ass posts about half-life canon in some weird attempt to explain it to somebody who knows a sad amount about the half-life canon, and for god's sake don't waste time linking to wikipedia articles i helped write 

If you helped write them, then why am I explaining this to you??

half-life 1 is totally unnecessary to understanding or enjoying half-life 2, and i would say that new players should go so far as to start with half-life 2 and only bother with hl1 once they've finished all the hl2 episodes and portal

And I would disagree; I suppose that's about as far as we'll get, as we've already stated our opinions in extensive detail here.  Agree to disagree on this one?

FWIW, if any of you are interested, you can search for Half-Life Complete on Steam, you get all of the games for PC that I mentioned, except the Portal series, for 39.99 ATM.  You can search for Portal Bundle and get the Portal series for 34.98

[General Battuta]

If you helped write them, then why am I explaining this to you??

because you need things explained to you, i don't know? or you haven't actually read the wiki entries? for example: the only thing from blue shift that actually appears in hl2 is the name 'barney', and it is actually pretty unlikely for the HL2 barney and the blue shift barney to be the same character (at least in part because blue shift is not by valve and is not canon)

this is because gabe is pale and huge like a combine advisor and does not give a **** about continuity, and most of the apparent hl1 references in hl2 are retcons

maybe you should build a bridge and then pile a bunch of cars on one end so it tilts up like a ramp and then jump a muscle car over the bridge so you can get over it

all that said it would be pretty bangin if we got another opposing force game with adrian shep as a combine soldier

[General Battuta]

[swashmebuckle]

maybe you should build a bridge and then pile a bunch of cars on one end so it tilts up like a ramp and then jump a muscle car over the bridge so you can get over it

This makes my top ten zen moments of magically stupid gaming greatness.

[Mongoose]

I loved that damn car.  I did not love attempting to bring the damn gnome along in said damn car.

[Scourge of Ages]

FWIW, if any of you are interested, you can search for Half-Life Complete on Steam, you get all of the games for PC that I mentioned, except the Portal series, for 39.99 ATM.  You can search for Portal Bundle and get the Portal series for 34.98

Speaking of, I still have a 25% off coupon for any Valve title (titles?) that expires on the 1st of March. I won't be using it, and if anybody can, please let me know ASAP either on Steam or here. I also still have a 50% coupon for Universe Sandbox to a good home.