Game Idea: UrbEx
General Mechanics
This is inspired much by The Gallery, but also from this UrbEx documentary on Vimeo: Undercity
GTA-style open-world roaming. I mean, somewhat close to GTA-style. Not like steal cars, kill everything kind of GTA, but I'm talking about the same level of expansiveness as GTA4 Liberty City and maybe a bit better on the smaller details. For instance, there should be a lot more "normal" places that you can enter. Not only things like your house, restaurants, and entertainment spots, but nearly everything you could reasonably want to check out in a game. Clothing shops, grocery stores, banks (your bank), apartment lobbies, schools (maybe your college or a friend's), public transit (buses, trains, subway, taxi), friends' houses, etc. The point here is detail. Crafting a city that you could imagine living in.
The game would be made to be enjoyed with the Rift and headphones. If you receive a phone call, you would only hear it through one ear. There would be a point not to have a HUD. If you want to check how much money you have, pull out your wallet and check. Want to see what you're wearing? Look down, or in a mirror (also would need a good character creator). Want to see what your gear situation is like? Take off your backpack and look inside.
There would be a stealth element, too. Maybe not as hardcore about it like games such as Thief, Hitman, or Dishonored, but not all UrbEx is exactly... legal. In fact, for the Average Joe UrbExer who can't get special permissions and/or afford fancy permits, there's a whooole lot of trespassing involved.
There would also be a small(ish) degree of parkour/free running. DEFINITELY nothing as crazy as Mirror's Edge-type stuff, but you should be able to hop a few fences, maybe leap a few rooftop gaps. Sprinting across the top of a crane arm is right out. We're going for realism here.
Locations ^^or ^^why ^^I ^^really ^^want ^^this ^^game
Undercity serves up a few REALLY awesome ideas; abandoned subway station, sewers, under-building space, and the top of a suspension bridge.
How about maybe an abandoned theme park?
Shit, head on over to r/urbanexploration or r/abandonedporn and sort by top, all time.
"But Jimmy," I hear you say, "How could all these locations possibly exist in a single city?" To this, I say to take a look at Undercity again. All those locations are just in New York City. Hell, just take a look at Detroit! Abandoned Skyscraper! Cathedral! Warehouse! Auto plant! Train station! A freaking hospital! How cool would it be to explore an abandoned hospital via the Rift?!
UrbEx-Specific Considerations
Gear would include what a real-world UrbExer would bring. Headlamp, gloves, respirator/gas mask, backpack, chem lights, climbing rope, backup flashlight, maybe hip-waders (think thigh-high galoshes for walking through water), but you would decide what to bring before embarking on your exploration, based on need and money situation.
Your character could be a photographer who sells photos to an UrbEx mag. You could have a DSLR camera as part of your gear and you take pictures to sell to make some money. You could also implement a system where you can upload these photos (IRL) to a community site. Like, everyone with a game key gets a space to host their 10 favorite photos.
Some kind of stealth system is a must. With how paranoid the world is today, you'd need to be aware of the authorities, security cams, and your every day citizens that may report something that (to them) looks weird. Even though UrbEx is about appreciating architecture, history, and abandonment, your everyday person isn't going to understand that.
Story Ideas ^^Tying ^^it ^^all ^^together
Parts in [brackets] are highly subject-to-change, not-important-to-nail-down-now details.
Idea 1 - The Mystery (Psychological Thriller, Puzzle Solver/Detective-ish)
You and a small group of friends are exploring a warehouse. The place has been abandoned for years upon years. Everything is covered in dust, rust, and graffiti. When searching one of the warehouse offices, you find an envelope. It's just sitting on top of the desk, propped up against an old phone. It's clean. Flawless. It's obviously been placed there very recently. Inside is a Polaroid of [Person important to characters], bound and gagged. [S]he's obviously extremely frightened. The only other object in the envelope is a printed note with an address. The rest of the note reads:
"May 22nd. 22:00. Don't be early. Don't be late. No police. Break a rule, I break a bone."
You and your friends show up at [next location, another abandoned spot], not to find the perpetrator, or [Person], but another envelope. The envelope has another picture of [Person] and another note. This time the note tells you where to find a video camera hidden in the building. The note tells you to film your group with the camera [doing something illegal], then bring the camera back. Deadline: 23:59 May 24th.
Basically a big chain of events like this. The notes have you making evidence of you and your friends doing illegal, increasingly worse things with the promise of saving [Person]. Of course, the actual plot would be better and more twisty than this. But yeah, psychological thriller UrbEx game.
Idea 2 - The Contest (Action/Adventure)
Billionaire playboy and thrill seeker Gil Bates [hurr, name subject to change] has recently taken a keen interest in UrbEx. You get a PM from an UrbEx forum you frequent giving you the details of an under-the-table contest he's running, grand prize $20 million. It's the world's most illegal scavenger hunt, all taking place in your city. The PM includes a date, time, and address of an abandoned location to meet up, if you're up to it. Teams of [4], no more, no less.
You sneak in with 3 friends to the abandoned spot. There are 5 teams total, 20 people, all standing around Gil and his entourage. One of Gil's bodyguards is walking around handing a smartphone to each team as Gil explains the contest. There are [10-20] locations in the city that are part of the contest. The contest will begin sometime in the next 3 days. When it begins, an alarm on the phone will go off, and the phone's GPS will activate and guide you to an address. Once at the location, a homing app will activate on the phone. The homing app will guide you to a spot where you must place the phone to interface with a hidden device via NFC. First team to accomplish this wins the objective. The next objective will activate sometime in the next 3 days after the current objective ends. The team with the most objectives won at the end wins the game and the $20 million.
When the phone is active, it is constantly recording audio and video to discourage cheating by using extra people. Trying to hack the phone in any way will disqualify you. Other than that, it's all fair game.
Over the course of the game, you'll have to escape the authorities, fight off the rival teams, fight off squatters in the abandoned spots, race, run, and stealth your way around the city to win.
So what do you guys think?
Posted Apr 13, 2013, 11:17 PM UTC