WWI game idea...
by Zen_Budha · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 10/17/2004 (5:16 am) · 10 replies
I have been considering on and off for over a year to perhaps do a WWI game. It seems to be an ignored war as far as video game go. I know that doesn't exactly make it novel or original.
Yet I think if done right it could be a lot of fun to play. Could even be done semi-battlefield 1942 style with the ability to fly planes, and tanks.
Plus I doubt they have any intention to produce a Battlefield WWI anytime ever. Which is weird to me because WWI was the turning point in warfare. So many leaps were made it wasn't even funny. Tanks, airplanes, rail guns, and of course the machine gun.
I also think most people picture WWI as some barren open field with some ditches on both sides shooting at each other or charging across. When in reality they fought in the cities, and the woods. They dug tunnels into enemy trenches.
I think there is a lot of play value there that most people miss. I dunno maybe I'll just turn the idea into a Battlefield mod instead of a whole new game.
I'm just toying with the idea as always.
Yet I think if done right it could be a lot of fun to play. Could even be done semi-battlefield 1942 style with the ability to fly planes, and tanks.
Plus I doubt they have any intention to produce a Battlefield WWI anytime ever. Which is weird to me because WWI was the turning point in warfare. So many leaps were made it wasn't even funny. Tanks, airplanes, rail guns, and of course the machine gun.
I also think most people picture WWI as some barren open field with some ditches on both sides shooting at each other or charging across. When in reality they fought in the cities, and the woods. They dug tunnels into enemy trenches.
I think there is a lot of play value there that most people miss. I dunno maybe I'll just turn the idea into a Battlefield mod instead of a whole new game.
I'm just toying with the idea as always.
About the author
#2
And your question "why doesnt anyone make a WWI game" is easily answerable - because it was a trench-warfare and not exactly an exciting one. Imagine the game where you sit in a trenches and await eagerly artillery fire or poisonous gas clouds, while shooting in darkness in hopes of hitting some poor bastard on the other side. Not exactly an action game material.
10/17/2004 (11:32 am)
The whole current World Wars craze really bugs me. What exactly happened that triggered this? There have been some good releases, but it seems that everybody and his nephew is making one these days, creating something like subgenre and I've lost any interest already.And your question "why doesnt anyone make a WWI game" is easily answerable - because it was a trench-warfare and not exactly an exciting one. Imagine the game where you sit in a trenches and await eagerly artillery fire or poisonous gas clouds, while shooting in darkness in hopes of hitting some poor bastard on the other side. Not exactly an action game material.
#3
I don't think we have reached that stage where we can create a single player WW1 experience, give it a couple of years where thousands of AI men get shot by machine guns with artillery and gas and all the other damned things in WW1...
10/17/2004 (5:59 pm)
We reached a stage where we could make a good WW2 experience in game development...I don't think we have reached that stage where we can create a single player WW1 experience, give it a couple of years where thousands of AI men get shot by machine guns with artillery and gas and all the other damned things in WW1...
#4
10/18/2004 (2:30 am)
I don't think there are many valuable gameplay opportunities presented by a WWI scenario over WWII, and there are a lot more in a WWII scenario.
#5
Agape.
10/18/2004 (1:52 pm)
Nauris and Andrew hit the nail on the head. You could certainly make a game that took place *during* WW1, but not in the trenches. Still, you must face the fact: It was a stupid war. Create something around it and through it that is interesting, and people will play it. (As you said, a lot of things were going on.) Create a FPS where you throw grenades from a ditch, and nothing interesting will happen.Agape.
#6
I once read a book about tank warfare in WWI. The early tanks were big, heavy, unreliable, slow, got stuck or just plain broke down too often. In other words, exciting as hell! Just think of the tank scene in the third indiana jones movie!
As for story, the game could be about one of the first tank platoons on the allied side...
-Bjorn
10/19/2004 (1:57 am)
Hi ZBI once read a book about tank warfare in WWI. The early tanks were big, heavy, unreliable, slow, got stuck or just plain broke down too often. In other words, exciting as hell! Just think of the tank scene in the third indiana jones movie!
As for story, the game could be about one of the first tank platoons on the allied side...
-Bjorn
#7
10/19/2004 (3:10 am)
Well, I can tell you you should maybe get your facts straight... I just took a university course covering WWI last term, and apart from an incident where Canadians torched a otherwise deserted city in France partying from a victory, it was all trench warfare...
#8
They did develop tactics during the last years of the war...
an example of tactics would be the creeping barriage, where they would fire in front of the soldiers creeping and clean out the trenches...
They further developed it into the use of planes, artillery, tanks and infantry... a very good tactic that was used to break the stalemate.. (That tactic is an allies tactic)
A german tactic would be the storm troopers where instead of large groups, small companies would go over, break through enemy lines and cause confusion... that was a good plan...
Team play like that would have huge potential i think where people do actually work together..
10/19/2004 (6:21 pm)
Trench Warfare is not just throw and nade and shoot into no mans land...They did develop tactics during the last years of the war...
an example of tactics would be the creeping barriage, where they would fire in front of the soldiers creeping and clean out the trenches...
They further developed it into the use of planes, artillery, tanks and infantry... a very good tactic that was used to break the stalemate.. (That tactic is an allies tactic)
A german tactic would be the storm troopers where instead of large groups, small companies would go over, break through enemy lines and cause confusion... that was a good plan...
Team play like that would have huge potential i think where people do actually work together..
#9
10/19/2004 (6:43 pm)
WWI was not all trench warfare. Read Rommel's book "Attacks", and you will find out there was more to WWI than trench warfare. Must have been a pretty crummy course. ;)
Torque 3D Owner Willbkool
If you have Halflife, check out The Trenches. There is another called "The Somme Valley" also, just to name a few.