The RPG system of the future

The following article is a Game Designer’s ramblings on a game that doesn’t exist, on a design that can never be implemented. This design is set in a dream world, where Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft walk around the park hand in hand and smile not when they make money, but when consumers really like their games and are happy.

The basic concept:

The game would completely immerse the player into the world of the game. It would do so, by using all the possible elements that the various technologies can dish out. We’re talking cross-platform integration. A game which requires you to own a PC, an Xbox360 / Playstation 3, a Nintendo Wii, and a Nintendo DS.

How it would work:

PC:

The game would run the core game-play on the PC. Let’s think of the game as something like World of Warcraft. You roam around the world, making friends, earning xp, etc. You form clans, chat with your fellow warriors; decide on how to go about executing quest A. You set up a time and a location, and you meet there, and then work together to get through the quest A.

Xbox 360/Ps3:

Wait!! But imagine having the graphics and controls of an Xbox 360 or a ps3 (considering you don’t own a PC that has half a million dollars invested in it and has a liquid nitrogen cooling system). After setting up the quest, you get onto XBL or PSN, log in, and you’re in a beautifully rendered world. Now you fight your quests with your friends. Some use their Xbox 360’s, and some use their PS3’s. Yes. Total cross-platform support. And wait, it gets better. The PC portal is very light on your machine, since you’re just using it as an organization centre. No expensive equipment required here.

Nintendo Wii:

There’s more. Single player quests. Custom made for the Wii. Log in through your Wii and play your quests. Make your little 9-year old baby brother slay dragons. Oh yes. He’ll do all the dirty work, and you gain XP. It all gets updated on the central server. Yes.  A Central Server, which is getting feeds from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft servers. Not to mention from the internet itself.

 Nintendo DSi:

The DSi (newly launched) comes with a flash memory, and Wi-Fi. So get this… Log onto your pc, and you get puzzle based quests, which you can download into your DSi, and when you’re at work, or at college, you can sneak the DSi out of your bag, and complete your quests. Get home, and the data (levels completed, etc) gets pulled from your DS onto your PC and is then sent to the server. Voila!!  you’re fired from your job, you have low grades, but who cares when you can upgrade your characters skill-set through your DSi while you are away from home?? Similar functionality could be added for the PSP.

I-phone:

The entire inventory management system, is available on your i-phone!! Yes!! Browse through items, see what items you need, how much they cost, on the fly! Make your game plan, check the leaderboards. GPRS never seemed as good.

Thus, Hence, Therefore:

We see the formula to create THE MOST ADDICTIVE GAME that the world would ever see. Will such a game ever be made? Maybe. But only if people sitting at the top of this industry realize that politics and industrial benefits and sales figures do not matter nearly half as much as making a good game. Join hands, they must. Only then will the force be strong J