Idle Thought Stuff
I should be working more on something at least dubiously useful, like writing more newsfiles for Arcanumush or something, but.
Expanded thoughts about Theoretical Intrigue Game. I've already discussed it a bit - you play as a financial wizard, essentially, travelling around the (world/galaxy) doing business - as a form of political control. You are good at this job. I'm not sure what setting to use here - it could work modern or sci fi, really.
Anyway.
You are, in homage to the man who gave me the idea, a member of (somewhat disenfranchised minority group). Not oppressed so much as - well, not the guys in charge and often viewed as kind of suspicious. This is important because one of the potential story paths is 'and now you are the mastermind behind the (somewhat disenfranchised minority group) terrorists.'
Game begins following the player's growth from college age to 40 as the tutorial. PC's Dad is the guide here, teaching the framework by which social interaction is done - observation of details and then using those details to manipulate other people. I'm thinking this is a combination of the conversational stances from Alpha Protocol and maybe some small puzzle minigames for less conversational uses of influence.
The PC will never engage in direct combat. Ever. He may, in fact, suffer a college sports injury specifically to make him walk with a cane as an explanation.
The plot, as I imagine it, is - well, several plots, given the directions you can go with it. I'll go into that later.
Anyway. Gameplay starts with information gathering. Your dad makes it clear that this is important. You spend resources, get information. It won't give you everything, however - and depending on various factional standings you may or may not get all the available stuff. So - Alpha Protocol's intel, cool.
From here, you have observation. Observation is like intel but riskier. You send out your personal spies to gather info on the target directly, or even commit violence. You play a little minigame; how well you do determines what you get. You might be able to alter how a target acts by, say, stealing key industrial secrets from his warehouse. The risk, though: you do badly, it will backfire - and you might lose your operative, if the operation is dangerous enough. You do not have a ton of operatives, and they're all characterized. (All are recruited by you directly through the game, and all should have optional side missions to help them out, which will likely make their minigames easier/make them more skilled.)
And then, the last step before talking to a guy: the waiting room. You probably know some of his hobbies already, and this is important. You get this step to bring along gifts (which you bought with resources) relevant to his interests. You get a timed portion to hang around the waiting room, which will have details to remind you of this so you can buy the gifts before talking to the guy. (This is an abstraction representing, I suppose, calling your minions and getting them to do it.) You also get some last-minute intel by listening in on muffled conversations, plot exposition, etc.
And then it's conversation time, which I am looking at Alpha Protocol for inspiration from. Conversational stances, maybe a button to pick a specific keyword to direct conversation towards, etc. You use all the intel you've gathered to see how best to influence your target to do what you want. Which can vary based on what you want. Threats, befriending, angering the target - you might end up doing any or all of these on purpose.
Now, what's the goal?
Well, that depends. The game starts when your dad is killed. You've just turned 40 and are assuming major control from the old guy; he gets assassinated as he is handing the financial reins over. The early game is about discovering who did it.
Which is a complicated question. A faction of the government that viewed your dad as a threat because of his power and (minority group) status is involved, I think. I haven't gotten this all written out yet. But you have several options. You can go all vengeance and become a terrorist backer. You can attempt to root out the corrupt conspiracy that killed Dad and make the government a better place. You can attempt to unseat the government by seeding revolution (this is somewhat different than the terrorist path in that you'll be going for majority change rather than vengeance). You could, I suppose, theoretically go 'screw you, dad, I want to join the conspiracy' because you've decided to be a ruthless prick. Each of these paths will have different operatives, plotlines and people to interact with.
And this all will never happen because games cost money, especially huge, complex ones.
Expanded thoughts about Theoretical Intrigue Game. I've already discussed it a bit - you play as a financial wizard, essentially, travelling around the (world/galaxy) doing business - as a form of political control. You are good at this job. I'm not sure what setting to use here - it could work modern or sci fi, really.
Anyway.
You are, in homage to the man who gave me the idea, a member of (somewhat disenfranchised minority group). Not oppressed so much as - well, not the guys in charge and often viewed as kind of suspicious. This is important because one of the potential story paths is 'and now you are the mastermind behind the (somewhat disenfranchised minority group) terrorists.'
Game begins following the player's growth from college age to 40 as the tutorial. PC's Dad is the guide here, teaching the framework by which social interaction is done - observation of details and then using those details to manipulate other people. I'm thinking this is a combination of the conversational stances from Alpha Protocol and maybe some small puzzle minigames for less conversational uses of influence.
The PC will never engage in direct combat. Ever. He may, in fact, suffer a college sports injury specifically to make him walk with a cane as an explanation.
The plot, as I imagine it, is - well, several plots, given the directions you can go with it. I'll go into that later.
Anyway. Gameplay starts with information gathering. Your dad makes it clear that this is important. You spend resources, get information. It won't give you everything, however - and depending on various factional standings you may or may not get all the available stuff. So - Alpha Protocol's intel, cool.
From here, you have observation. Observation is like intel but riskier. You send out your personal spies to gather info on the target directly, or even commit violence. You play a little minigame; how well you do determines what you get. You might be able to alter how a target acts by, say, stealing key industrial secrets from his warehouse. The risk, though: you do badly, it will backfire - and you might lose your operative, if the operation is dangerous enough. You do not have a ton of operatives, and they're all characterized. (All are recruited by you directly through the game, and all should have optional side missions to help them out, which will likely make their minigames easier/make them more skilled.)
And then, the last step before talking to a guy: the waiting room. You probably know some of his hobbies already, and this is important. You get this step to bring along gifts (which you bought with resources) relevant to his interests. You get a timed portion to hang around the waiting room, which will have details to remind you of this so you can buy the gifts before talking to the guy. (This is an abstraction representing, I suppose, calling your minions and getting them to do it.) You also get some last-minute intel by listening in on muffled conversations, plot exposition, etc.
And then it's conversation time, which I am looking at Alpha Protocol for inspiration from. Conversational stances, maybe a button to pick a specific keyword to direct conversation towards, etc. You use all the intel you've gathered to see how best to influence your target to do what you want. Which can vary based on what you want. Threats, befriending, angering the target - you might end up doing any or all of these on purpose.
Now, what's the goal?
Well, that depends. The game starts when your dad is killed. You've just turned 40 and are assuming major control from the old guy; he gets assassinated as he is handing the financial reins over. The early game is about discovering who did it.
Which is a complicated question. A faction of the government that viewed your dad as a threat because of his power and (minority group) status is involved, I think. I haven't gotten this all written out yet. But you have several options. You can go all vengeance and become a terrorist backer. You can attempt to root out the corrupt conspiracy that killed Dad and make the government a better place. You can attempt to unseat the government by seeding revolution (this is somewhat different than the terrorist path in that you'll be going for majority change rather than vengeance). You could, I suppose, theoretically go 'screw you, dad, I want to join the conspiracy' because you've decided to be a ruthless prick. Each of these paths will have different operatives, plotlines and people to interact with.
And this all will never happen because games cost money, especially huge, complex ones.