| 2/4/2012 I have an idea for a brand new video game: Police Camera Action! Yes it is named after the ITV clip show looking at car crimes. Much like said TV show this game will feature awesome crashes and failed getaways, with the aim of educating the player why such actions are dangerous and what police procedure for dealing with such miscreants is. We have so many military games giving the player an idea of what it's like to be at war, so why can't the player be law enforcement? Actually, gamers have already had the chance to experience life as a law enforcer. You could be a detective in L.A. Noire or Ripper, or a member of SWAT in, um, SWAT. Well, the full title of the first game in the Sierra series was Police Patrol: SWAT. My point is, this idea has always been around but as far as I know, there haven't been any games allowing you to play as a highway patrolman or road safety officer. To keep this interesting, the various stages could be around the world, and in order to complete the stage, you have to learn the most common road crimes and concerns, as well as the proper real-life local procedures. Each mission within the stage teaches you these and makes you practice them. So 1 mission could be called 'Dispatch', in which you have to follow the directions of HQ and the helicopter flying above you in order to apprehend a suspect. Another one could be 'Roadwatch', where you just drive along a motorway or busy street, keeping an eye out for offences and mishaps, like minor collisions, skidding or people driving without seatbelts. The final mission will be 'Patrol', which means you drive along a road somewhere, but will then have to pursue a vehicle at a moment's notice. Either they're speeding, or they try to get away during a random pull-over. The mission will be timed, so within a particular time frame, say 25 minutes, you could carry out up to 3 pursuits or pull-overs. If such missions haven't been completed within the time frame, then the game waits for you to complete the mission and will then exit and provide you your evaluation report. Thinking about it, the better word would be assignments. Within each stage, there could be a 'Special', which is an unlockable assignment provided once you have a good enough rating within that stage. See, I imagine this game rewarding you for being a diligent learner and maintaining a good set of priorities, so the better scores will be allocated for efficiency and lack of damage to public property. Oh and here's the kicker: the 'Patrol' mode will be completely random and AI generated, so it won't be pre-programmed like the shorter assignments. What would make it interesting is if every assignment mode had randomly generated elements. So anyway, the 'Special' assignments; these assignments would be levels that re-enact real-life extraordinary cases eg. the 'Liver Run' that took place in London in 1987. 'Special' assignments won't be scored in the final report like the other assignments, so the stage score won't be affected. In addition to all these modes and rewards, rewards like Police Camera Action! clips and customisable elements for your avatar, there'll be custom modes. People can create custom assignments out of standard level, character and mode elements. We can't forget about online play either. I imagine a standard 'Pursuit' mode or 'Tracking' mode, where out of a team of about 5, 1 person controls the helicopter and leads the team, while the other 4 are in their own vehicles and carry out the directions, reporting their actions. I suppose teams could have double capacity if there are 2 in every car. Anyways, 'Pursuit' is just to stop the getaway of a speeding car while 'Tracking' would be to locate a particular vehicle/suspect. That's a thought, 'Tailing' could be another offline assignment. I'm thinking you're all rather confused about the view this game will take. I imagine that the game will be played first-person ala Mirror's Edge, in the sense that you can see your body when you look down and looking right does not mean turning right. While in the car, you are still in this view while driving it. That way, there is no awkward change of views when you step out of the car. These are all the core ideas and I have a few more minor ones. If there are any game developers out there willing to go with this idea, please contact me. My email is ruth@r-story.net. |