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[AzyWng]

SS13, but set in Alpha Complex. Everyone is antags all the time.

That sounds like it would devolve into toolbox-bashing but that still sounds wonderful.

[EnigmaticHat]

SS13, but set in Alpha Complex. Everyone is antags all the time.

You would need like a 1:5 ratio of admins to players lol.

[Yolan]

A game where you build the rebel base. Maybe some mechanics from Evil Genius. You want to keep heat low, fooling empire spies. Eventually however when found out you need to stage a hasty evacuation, and proceed to the next level. Maybe doing that 4 times or something across different terrain types, until game end.

[Aoi]

A game where you build the rebel base. Maybe some mechanics from Evil Genius. You want to keep heat low, fooling empire spies. Eventually however when found out you need to stage a hasty evacuation, and proceed to the next level. Maybe doing that 4 times or something across different terrain types, until game end.

That reminds me of this fairly old RTS; narratively, you broke the planet (You released nanites that were melting people and turning them into oxygen gas or something, instead of digging it out of the soil.), needed to develop the technology to get off the planet with the resources you had access to, and to actually build the rocket itself.

In terms of mechanics, this meant campaign mode was a giant race against time (and the other planetary faction) to collect resources and get yourself to the top of the tech tree before the nanites reached your new outpost. What made things interesting was that your resource counts, some buildings, and tech development was persistent across maps, so you ended up with a very real advantage if you ran out the clock on each stage maximizing the mining and research time.

You could do something like that-- build the base, lay low, get your infiltration going, and when you finally get invaded, you have to move everything you can into evacuation pods and setup another base. Do you keep your key personnel near the exit so they can dash into it, or do you keep your stockrooms near so everybody can grab some valuables on the way out, knowing that the stragglers at the back might get captured? Two steps forward, one step back until you finally launch your attack on the empire.

[Yolan]

Sounds pretty neat!

But seriously. Why in 2019 can't I have a single game where I build the Hoth Base??? You can have supplies rock up periodically. You have quests to fulfill around the galaxy at your command room (same as Evil Genius). Would work great.

[EnigmaticHat]

A game where you build the rebel base. Maybe some mechanics from Evil Genius. You want to keep heat low, fooling empire spies. Eventually however when found out you need to stage a hasty evacuation, and proceed to the next level. Maybe doing that 4 times or something across different terrain types, until game end.

That reminds me of this fairly old RTS; narratively, you broke the planet (You released nanites that were melting people and turning them into oxygen gas or something, instead of digging it out of the soil.), needed to develop the technology to get off the planet with the resources you had access to, and to actually build the rocket itself.

In terms of mechanics, this meant campaign mode was a giant race against time (and the other planetary faction) to collect resources and get yourself to the top of the tech tree before the nanites reached your new outpost. What made things interesting was that your resource counts, some buildings, and tech development was persistent across maps, so you ended up with a very real advantage if you ran out the clock on each stage maximizing the mining and research time.

You could do something like that-- build the base, lay low, get your infiltration going, and when you finally get invaded, you have to move everything you can into evacuation pods and setup another base. Do you keep your key personnel near the exit so they can dash into it, or do you keep your stockrooms near so everybody can grab some valuables on the way out, knowing that the stragglers at the back might get captured? Two steps forward, one step back until you finally launch your attack on the empire.

Why didn't you try to, I don't know, actually save people?  (not you personally, I mean the faction in the game)

[Aoi]

A game where you build the rebel base. Maybe some mechanics from Evil Genius. You want to keep heat low, fooling empire spies. Eventually however when found out you need to stage a hasty evacuation, and proceed to the next level. Maybe doing that 4 times or something across different terrain types, until game end.

That reminds me of this fairly old RTS; narratively, you broke the planet (You released nanites that were melting people and turning them into oxygen gas or something, instead of digging it out of the soil.), needed to develop the technology to get off the planet with the resources you had access to, and to actually build the rocket itself.

In terms of mechanics, this meant campaign mode was a giant race against time (and the other planetary faction) to collect resources and get yourself to the top of the tech tree before the nanites reached your new outpost. What made things interesting was that your resource counts, some buildings, and tech development was persistent across maps, so you ended up with a very real advantage if you ran out the clock on each stage maximizing the mining and research time.

You could do something like that-- build the base, lay low, get your infiltration going, and when you finally get invaded, you have to move everything you can into evacuation pods and setup another base. Do you keep your key personnel near the exit so they can dash into it, or do you keep your stockrooms near so everybody can grab some valuables on the way out, knowing that the stragglers at the back might get captured? Two steps forward, one step back until you finally launch your attack on the empire.

Why didn't you try to, I don't know, actually save people?  (not you personally, I mean the faction in the game)

Found it; it was Outpost 2. Based on some of the descriptions, I may have overblown some of its merits... I do definitely remember that certain stuff carried over though.

The terraforming nanites broke out of containment, so it wasn't on purpose (though bad planning is still up for debate), though the primary dangers were the earthquakes from subterranean water being turned into gas, and how most of the machinery had organic components that would be destroyed in the oxygen claimation process.

Most buildings could be outfitted with rockets, so you were still saving most of your population, as you kept jumping ahead of the mess. Depending on which faction you played, one of them had a viable gene bank, the other had a... working mothership engine? Or something like that in either case, to force both sides to work together to save what was left of humanity. Oh, and then you learn that your nice new planet, that is now trying to eat you, also makes an annual trip through an asteroid field. Usual scifi stuff.

So you were trying to save people, but it was ultimately a mess of bad decisions that wrecked a planet that wasn't all that great to begin with. Good intentions, and all.

[JoshuaFH]

I woke up and had a pretty nifty idea: A horror game where all the enemies are completely invisible.

I'm thinking that it'd take place in a very ordinary domestic-style home or neighborhood, but your character is totally alone to explore it as they please. Atleast, on the surface everything is fine, there's no evidence anywhere of tragedy or wrongdoing, and you are alone... until you start hearing things moving things walking around, opening and closing doors, and then your character gets attacked for the first time from an assailant that can't be seen at all. I would have to design the game to advertise that headphones with the volume cranked up is necessary, as the enemies would have "perfect" invisibility, unable to ever be seen, even with tricks like throwing flour into the air. The mystery of who they are or what they 'look' like will never be revealed to the player, not even if one is killed, their invisible corpse simply ceases to exist, like fighting angry ghosts.

I wouldn't be satisfied with rote enemy behavior, I'd like to have the enemies behave in highly malicious ways. Striking once and then retreating, moving in erratic ways that just listening for them can't easily account for, trying to only move when you move to cover their own sounds, remaining perfectly still and waiting in ambush, always trying to attack from behind or when you otherwise can't defend yourself, etcetera.

The goal of the game would be to induce a constant sense of paranoia, to transform the ordinary domestic living space your character inhabits into a terrifying place where danger could be anywhere, could be following you, could be lying in wait to ambush you, could be mere inches away and is simply making no noise to alert you.

I suppose the game would be the extension that the greatest fear is the fear of the unknown, and that would be the premise of the antagonistic entities in the game, to be unknown and unknowable.

[Kagus]

Blackout society fiddles with the idea a bit, but there are still methods of getting a general peek at the critter.

I think one of the big issues with all-invis all the time is that locational hearing is difficult, especially if you don't want the monster to be a catastrophic klutz that's constantly banging into things and knocking stuff over. There's a zombie game I don't remember the name of that was designed to be played by blind people, so you can see how they handle the sounds and whatnot if you're interested. I just gotta charge my phone before I go snooping around for it...

[Aoi]

I think I know the phone one you're referring to; it got a fair chunk of media attention when it came out. ...Too bad I can't remember the name either... but it looks like there's a handy little site specifically for games that are played via audio output: https://www.audiogames.net/

^{And, in a fit of 1:30AM stupidity, I glanced at a few random entries and thought, "They could use a few screenshots."}

Edit: Aha! Was it Blindside?

[Dunamisdeos]

@JoshuaFH
I mean there'd have to be some way of detecting them, otherwise it ceases to be scary and just becomes an wait for the ghosts to come get you since you have no control over the game.

First game would be like whee wow scary ghosts then after that it'd be oh wow I guess I'll just wander around until something i cant avoid kills me.

[notquitethere]

I imagine the game would be a lot flailing around at empty spaces in rooms.

[JoshuaFH]

Well, what I had originally imagined would be a more tempered experience rather than just struggling with evil ghost boogies. Like, the invis-enemies not being generic, but each one unique with their own personality, being tied to a specific territory, and being forced to obey rules unique to that territory. This information wouldn't be obvious, you'd have to deduce it from listening, from observing the environment they exist in, and of course from what they do when you invade their space. Perhaps there could be more environmental cues and notes and stuff strewn about, but the game wouldn't be about fighting, but rather figuring out the mystery with these hostile invisible boogies being both obstacles and puzzle pieces.

[Dunamisdeos]

Yeah no that's sounds rad AF, as long as there are clear ways/rules involved that allow you to detect them. If they are invis and the way you find them is you die or whathaveyou, that goes even beyond normal roguelike levels.

It sounds super cool though, I'd buy that game.

[Mathel]

It may be good if (at least most of them) do not go for lethal attacks.

Let's say they are poltergaists and their goals are various, but rarely are to kill you. They may want to trap you in a house, steal items from you, tell you a story, scare you, make fun of you, etc.. Some may want to outright kill you, but those should come later and still have limits. Such limits may be that, for example, they can not make solid object heavier than a certain amount (let's say 0.5kg) invisible by touch and they can not interact directly with living humans (But still can interact with their clothes.).