Re: [cornishe] GTA San Andreas
Doing a Flash based 2D base simulation is definitely possible as a hobby project. Put a smart programmer together with a good pixel pusher and you could create quite an addictive little game.
Doing a 3D game as a hobby project is impossible. I've seen incredibly smart people take on less ambitious game projects and they invarariably failed. Creating a game to today's standards is just too much work. It's no surprise that budgets for average games start at five million dollar and easily run over twenty.
So your only chance at making a 3D BASE game is to have it funded by a publisher. The problem here is that no publisher will listen to you. They won't even open letters if they contain game ideas. What if it contains an idea they already had themselves? The risk is just too large.
So that means that new ideas only come from within the industry or from IP with large marketing potential. Unfortunately, BASE just isn't very marketable. That means the game has to rely on actually being fun to play, and that's another risk that publishers just can't take. If they can't market it, they won't make it. Marketability is much more important than how good the game is. Marketing is easy. It's just science solved by money. Creating a fun game is hard; it's an art form that takes hard work, massive amounts of creativity and a little bit of luck that you hit the right balance.
I think it's possible to make a great BASE game. Create an unconstrained 3D world, throw in some physics and animation, and then go nuts. Do it Jet Set Radio or Jet Grind Radio style and go over the top. Include a career mode where you start on easy objects and from planes, and then build up a reputation. If you get seen, you trigger increasing levels of alert. From onlookers to security guards, from cops to the army, from dogs to helicopters to tanks. Allow for tag-based wingsuit flights through a downtown core. Stick the James Bond elements of Base in the game as well. The less people see you jump, the more points you get. Exaggerate everything. And of course, include at least one famous National Park object.
I know of at least one large publisher that has been talking to the main guy from
Le Parkour. If they can do it, then why can't we? Maybe it is marketable?
On the other hand, is BASE really a sport that we want to romantise and glorify in a video game? For a skateboarding game, just display a warning and a recommendation to wear a helmet if you plan on trying this stuff in real life. What the hell do you throw in a mainstream BASE game? Don't try this at home, you might lose limbs and friends?
And once again I used too many words. Sorry, but it's a topic I'm pretty opinionated on since I make a living in the business.
If you're not bedridden, why don't you turn off that evil machine and go outside to play? Sometimes I feel like a drug-dealer. I'm only in manufacturing, I never actually consume.
If you are bedridden, go play
Super Mario Strikers. Somebody told me that one of the programmers on that team is a base jumper!