I have an idea. Should I go for it?

[Arani]

(I hope this is the right place to post this...)

Hello everyone. I've had this idea for a long time. It's not all drawn up or anything, just a basic idea. I would like to know if any of you like this idea or think it would be possible. Should I go for it?

Well, my idea is video game based. It would be on the computer. You know those video games with the in-between missions where someone's talking to the character you are playing, telling the story basically? Well my idea was to use that same idea, but make it so that the user is having a conversation with a computer, which is the same thing as the user creating their own version of the game's story throughout the game. The user would be able to make his/her own character, make then male or female and give them any type of look they want, and then be going through the game like normal, but in between missions they're creating a path for their character from their own imagination. I have come across several occasions where people say "oh I wish this character had done this" or "I wish that character chose a different weapon" ect. In this game, the user communicates directly, giving suggestions/forcing the computer characters into using the things they want them to, doing different types of missions, and playing the game how they think it should be played. So, every user is happy. And they can always restart the game and create a new story.

So, here's how it works. The user has a headset. in between missions, they will talk into the headset, saying what ever they want and replying how ever they chose, which would be transferred to a computer. (Their voice would be altered so no one could hear their real voice.)The computer will have thousands to millions of different replies, and will pick out the best reply to what the user has said. This way, the user is able to choose their own path; go along with their teammates and "save the day" or go against them and join "The dark side of the force" so to speak. That way, the game has hundreds of different types of missions that change depending on how the user tells their story.

I know that this would be difficult. A lot of writers, animators, techs, ect. And it would take A LOT of money. But I think it could be done. What do you all think? any suggestions or changes that should be made? I want y'all to be honest. Thanks!

[Ykskermasellanen]

Surely an interesting idea, are you some kind of game creator because the stuff your trying to pull off is very difficult (well atleast doing it with good quality).

[Eli_Ayase]

Hmm, sounds like a good idea ^^
But really, it's your idea, you chose what to do. I personally would go for it if I were you, it really is a nice idea.

[Woeler]

Soun really cool but the truth is that it's nearly impossible. You have to program every word and every sentence possible in the game and the reaction to it by each character. I think that's fairly impossible.

[Jiirani]

It sounds like a good plan, but like TPAM said, it is extremely difficult. You'd have to have someone prepared to talk as the computer and record those millions of phrases. Not only that, but the computer may misunderstand what the user is saying and respond incorrectly. You also have to worry about accents, the computer might not be able to... I'll say 'comprehend' what the user is saying.

You'd have a lot of work to do. Thousands of areas and missions to think up... It would be incredibly hard to achieve. If you think you can manage something like that, good luck.

[FlipMode]

Honestly? No. Drop the voice thing, it has been around for ages and ends up tanking every single time. It is possible, and actually a lot easier than a lot of people here have suggested, even the gamecube was capable of understanding and responding to speech. But there are reasons why no developer ever does it, I can not be bothered to get into the detail of why that is but I will say it is not due to technicalities, its something different and much more in depth than that.

Now, you could drop the voice thing from the game. But if you do, users being able to influence the story has been around for a very long time already (Heavy Rain probably pulled it off in the best way). So you are going to have to try and pitch your idea to a game company, which involves a sales pitch... This is where things get less funky... You will have to know EVERYTHING about the game you want to create, from the weapons, settings, environments, platforms to release on, menu systems... All the way down to sequel possibilities should it prove a success. And to be honest, that is probably just the basic stuff. Usually to get a game published you need to actually have the game working first.

Try going to things like Develop to see just how much processes actually go into this stuff... Even with a simple IPhone game. And you will probably need experience in the games industry if you want to be taken seriously... It is the hardest industry to get into bar none. But if you really want it then good luck!

[Arani]

I know it would take a very very long time, and it probably is near impossible right now, but this is just an idea.

At FlipMode: Yes, there r games that let you chose your phrases to say to characters, but those are chosen phrases that you're forced to chose from, and only... four or five of them at the most. I could drop the voice thing and just make it so that the user types in what they want to say, but the voice feature makes it more interactive.

At Ykskermasellanen: No I'm not a game creator but I've had several game ideas throughout my life so I was thinking of maybe becoming one someday.

Thank you all for the honest replies. ^^

[FlipMode]

[quote="Arani"]
At FlipMode: Yes, there r games that let you chose your phrases to say to characters, but those are chosen phrases that you're forced to chose from, and only... four or five of them at the most. I could drop the voice thing and just make it so that the user types in what they want to say, but the voice feature makes it more interactive. [/quote]

did you take a look at the examples I mentioned?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt-Cah3Gz44 Eyedentify trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPIbGnBQcJY - Natal (Kinect) Milo.
The funny thing about both of these is that, neither ended up being released. Reason being that, they would not work anywhere near as good as they are in the videos and would just bring a tremendous amount of consumer backlash. But my point here is, one to one conversations with an NPC is something that in concept has been around since the invention of the microphone in 1896. I doubt we will ever see it working to that extent in our life time. and another reason for that is that people just are not really bothered about it and thus no one wants to attempt to develop it.