Indy sandbox/Rockstar-style game: Is it possible?

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
Lonsome_Drifter said:
I still hate the idea of an open-world Indy game, but if it were to happen (I know it will never), have the missions based on good deeds without the option of doing evil.
At which stage the game might as well be linear, which was my original argument.

The only game I've seen to pull off some hard choices with an already established character is The Witcher. But then again, the crapsack fantasy world it takes place in kind of makes that possible. When the main character himself is sort of a magical mercenary and an antihero, and every character he runs across a random combination of a thief, cheater, philanderer and murderer it's pretty evident that every choice you face is more or less about determining the lesser of two evils.

While Indy's capable of doing some harsh things when he feels it's justified, he still a bit of too goody two-shoes to have a place in an open video game world. Which brings us to another thing that just strengthens my argument: if it was feasible to create an open-world game where your only option is to play a good-aligned character, somebody would have done that already.

Hmm... now that I think of it, Assassin's Creed kind of counts. But even that allows players to go stabhappy among innocent bystanders should they so choose. But if we consider what the guy does for a living, it's kind of hard not to leave the option there.
 

The Drifter

New member
Finn said:
At which stage the game might as well be linear, which was my original argument.

The only game I've seen to pull off some hard choices with an already established character is The Witcher. But then again, the crapsack fantasy world it takes place in kind of makes that possible. When the main character himself is sort of a magical mercenary and an antihero, and every character he runs across a random combination of a thief, cheater, philanderer and murderer it's pretty evident that every choice you face is more or less about determining the lesser of two evils.

While Indy's capable of doing some harsh things when he feels it's justified, he still a bit of too goody two-shoes to have a place in an open video game world. Which brings us to another thing that just strengthens my argument: if it was feasible to create an open-world game where your only option is to play a good-aligned character, somebody would have done that already.

Hmm... now that I think of it, Assassin's Creed kind of counts. But even that allows players to go stabhappy among innocent bystanders should they so choose. But if we consider what the guy does for a living, it's kind of hard not to leave the option there.

I honestly agree with you.
The only way this would work is if we had the option to create our own adventurer set in Indy's world.
The game could take place in the mid 30s for example. The player could come across Indy at different points in the game (the player could also be an old student of Indy's). We could either help Indiana, or compete against him in different missions.

I could see about 12 chapters in the game. Each chapter is made of a large open expanse of land sprinkled with side-missions as well as the story-missions. How we choose to do each one could either let us gain Indy's loyalty or disdain.
One chapter could be a jungle in the Amazon looking for an old temple. NPCs are here and there with their own unique quests, and while we do these things Indy himself is looking for the temple as well. We are either competing against him or helping him find clues.
That way we would have the choice of doing it our own way.

I hope all of that made some sort of sense.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Make it wartime OSS Indy, and not only can he can plant bombs in the sandbox, but he can take out German sentries with his whip.
 

DiscoLad

New member
Insomniac said:
Conceptually Yes, Will It Happen No.
Two Words: Lucas Arts

No, no it won't.
More than a handful of words:
Lucas Arts doesn't give a damn about Indiana Jones as long as there is a buck to be made off of Star Wars fanboys by making more SW games. (y)
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Have the option to play as Belloq.

Same missions, just that this time anything goes.

For Indy, amassing 'evil' actions, whether by accident or by design, would result in penalties that would encourage you to be more careful. That would make Indy's game more tactical, but Belloq would have the freedom to do what he wanted.
 
Montana Smith said:
Have the option to play as Belloq.

Same missions, just that this time anything goes.

For Indy, amassing 'evil' actions, whether by accident or by design, would result in penalties that would encourage you to be more careful. That would make Indy's game more tactical, but Belloq would have the freedom to do what he wanted.
What would a turn as Indy be if you weren't tempted to take the way of the gun? Enter Raiders Indy vs the wacky archaeologist argument.

It's not that difficult, and it's been done before, (FoA). Any A-B objective has three possible ways of completing. Fists, wits, team...though choices could be made more frequently instead of locking you in.

You can choose to plow through, high adventure style but the tactic of lethal/nonlethal has a counter which attracts attention based on location and your choice. If not over used, or only when you're fighting "fire with fire," it makes the level faster. Use it too much and you create more pitfalls, more enemies and the obstacle course becomes a virtual minefield too...
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Rocket Surgeon said:
What would a turn as Indy be if you weren't tempted to take the way of the gun? Enter Raiders Indy vs the wacky archaeologist argument.

It's not that difficult, and it's been done before, (FoA). Any A-B objective has three possible ways of completing. Fists, wits, team...though choices could be made more frequently instead of locking you in.

You can choose to plow through, high adventure style but the tactic of lethal/nonlethal has a counter which attracts attention based on location and your choice. If not over used, or only when you're fighting "fire with fire," it makes the level faster. Use it too much and you create more pitfalls, more enemies and the obstacle course becomes a virtual minefield too...

Indy's brother said:
Have you played Fallout 3?

I'm currently playing Fallout 3 - and this is my kind of game. Virtually anything is possible, with seemingly infinite combinations to make things different. Various ways to solve problems, with differing results for your character's personality and health, along with wider implications on the world around you.

I feel so invested in the character that moral choices seem very real. I'm also invested in my big Ghoul buddy Charon with whom I'm having great adventures (I gave him a wasteland mask so I no longer have to look at his rotting face!)

Now all this would be perfect for an Indy adventure: as a roguish character he can choose different paths to success, as he builds his knowledge through research and experience.

Taking Raiders as an example, there are certain things Indy has to do before he can locate the Ark (meeting Marion, obtaining the headpiece, overcoming German opposition, etc). In a Fallout 3 style, such a game could inter-link with other sub-adventures along the way.

One obstacle would be the 'Fast Travel' between found locations, though. There would have to be realistic explanation for Indy's ability to travel quickly (like maybe select locations from the stamps in his passport - the places he's already visited)
 

fenris

New member
I've been playing Dragon Age II recently... the way the game is designed could work for an Indy game. It's not as "open" as GTA or some other games, but I like how they designed the game.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Attila the Professor said:
This is also, inherently, a late period Jones story; I was throwing out the immediate post-war period, but maybe it's a story that takes place after some great loss, maybe Marcus, or his father. The emotional core than becomes him getting on with his life's work, and some of that is the tedious labor of real archaeology.

While Finn's still right about how they wouldn't tell this kind of story, the above is the way out of the "wacky archaeologist" problem. If he does things he wouldn't normally do, well, he's behaving erratically. The man could be adrift.

You also want it in the timeframe between the war and Crystal Skull because it maximizes the sorts of villains you would credibly be going up against. Escaped Nazis, Russians, Red Chinese, mobsters, corrupt American elements, tinpot dictators, warlords, native tribes, Third World sleazos, pickpockets who don't know who they're up against...
 

Montana Smith

Active member
The more sandbox games I play, the less obstacles I see in the way of an Indy sandbox.

Multiple missions or objectives can be undertaken simultaneously with the main quest to locate an artifact. Indy has been a spy, and he has combat experience, so there aren't any barriers to his obtaining information by sneaking into secure locations, or going head-to-head with an opposing force.

Choosing the route of egotistical fortune and glory, or that of altruism would affect karma, and therefore the reactions he receives in the world from those of differing karma. Since Indy generally finds a balance, the game would become more difficult (or very different) if you attempted it with excessive and unprovoked violence, or conversely, without trying to kill anyone or breaking local laws.
 

Nurhachi1991

Well-known member
Montana Smith said:
The more sandbox games I play, the less obstacles I see in the way of an Indy sandbox.

Multiple missions or objectives can be undertaken simultaneously with the main quest to locate an artifact. Indy has been a spy, and he has combat experience, so there aren't any barriers to his obtaining information by sneaking into secure locations, or going head-to-head with an opposing force.

Choosing the route of egotistical fortune and glory, or that of altruism would affect karma, and therefore the reactions he receives in the world from those of differing karma. Since Indy generally finds a balance, the game would become more difficult (or very different) if you attempted it with excessive and unprovoked violence, or conversely, without trying to kill anyone or breaking local laws.


Would it have a rampage mode like Vice City? Can you imagine? Indy could so some freaking damage (y)
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Nurhachi1991 said:
Would it have a rampage mode like Vice City? Can you imagine? Indy could so some freaking damage (y)

Raven Bar Indy mode! Rack up that bad karma, but knock it back down if you succeed in doing some good (i.e. saving Marion, despatching a really bad guy like Toht).

Indy could have a smart-talk option to try to end a situation calmly, but if that fails and combat is initiated by the other side, he won't lose karma, though he will begin combat from a less advantageous position (i.e. no sneak attack).
 
Finn said:
No, it's not possible.
Not probable...

Finn said:
GTA, Fallout, Oblivion, Mass Effect... they all have something in common. It's your character. He or she is a blank slate. They may have a name (or not), they may have some established relationships in the game world (or not), but they don't have a backstory (or if they do, it's very vague), and they certainly don't have a personality other than the one player crafts for him or her. And this is an important aspect in making an open world game work. Indy is not a character like this. He is someone whose past we know very well. We know what he can do and can't do. He is an adventurer archaeologist, moral alignment Very Good. He lives in a reality that ultimately has very little shades of gray, and he always does what is considered the "right thing". In other words, he would make a very bad character for a game where player is given greater choice of direction to go.
There are many ways to deal with this. Despite the evolution of the character, Indy has been willing to shoot the swordsman or launch a Thugge into lava. The obvious solution would be consequence/retribution, swift or otherwise and if so demanded by Lucas then at Lucas' whim.

Infernal Machine has some audio promts which indicate limits. If you were to indiscriminately shoot some villager, it's feasible that you would see "Game Over" as the camera spirals away from Indy's body, farmers's shovel sticking out of his back.

I'll never forget the kid typing "F*CK MARION" at the Kissing Booth in the game Sherwood Forrest. The game locked with a picture of a bar of soap jammed between some lips and the subtitle: MAZE OF FILTHMOUTH.

You could apologize and continue but three strikes and you had to start a brand new game.


Finn said:
We may still play a character called Indiana Jones, but we stop being THE Indiana Jones we know so very well.
I think this has ALWAYS been the attraction of playing such a game, I can make him the Indiana Jones I want him to be or always thought he was.

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Finn said:
...let's imagine for a second that you'd turn your back to these poor souls. Just walked away. That's a moment right there you'd stop being Indy again. It's very likely that the game would force you in a situation where you can't continue before you do the right thing. If we have a realistic time cycle, you could return to the scene two ingame days later to find the guy still waist-deep in quicksand. The train never came, the sassy lass is still on the tracks, spouting expletives. You're not really in a place where you make your own adventure. Sure, you can go wherever you want, but you might as well be playing a linear game.
Why would you make a game where events you trigger don't expire or ascribe to the in-game clock? You can create many senarios for failure, but their only usefull when deciding how complex a game will be/bug testing, and since we're all dreaming here I say shoot for the moon.
Finn said:
...to play as him... no. Just no.
Ok, but to play as MY perception of him, HELL YEAH!
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Rocket Surgeon said:
Ok, but to play as MY perception of him, HELL YEAH!

That's the joy of playing the immersive type of video game. It gives you the opportunity to get attached to your character and protective of their friends. In a free world Indy can be as he was in Raiders, diving into combat, or as self-centred as he was during the earlier part of Temple of Doom.

There will be blood.

Trust me.
 

michael

Well-known member
LucasArts job listing hints at in-development 'open-world RPG'

Lucasfilm's recruiting website says the studio is hiring a developer for "an open-world RPG." The mid-level gameplay designer position will work on code and engines for an upcoming (and presumably unannounced) role-playing game set to take place in an open world environment. Other than that, the listing is unfortunately vague, asking only for a talented and experienced individual to work with artists and designers to put code together.

There's no mention of online or multiplayer features at all, and no hint of what platforms (other than PC) the game might be built for or run on. So it's anyone's guess as to what this exactly is yet -- just because features aren't mentioned in the listing just means this engineer won't be working on them, not that they don't exist. But it does seem like LucasArts is working on putting together some kind of RPG, possibly based on one of its current properties, in an open world setting. Which is intriguing news on its own.


http://www.joystiq.com/2011/08/22/lucasarts-job-listing-hints-at-in-development-open-world-rpg/


it's a shot of a shot in the dark, but hey, one commenter has already suggested Indiana Jones.
 

michael

Well-known member
Nurhachi1991 said:
More than likely it will be star wars super republic commando episode 3 :rolleyes:
Yeah no kidding.

While I doubt it will be Indiana Jones, I can't believe people aren't sick of all the expanded universe Star Wars trash out there by now. It's ridiculous.
 

EvilEmperorZoRG

New member
That's a hell of a good idea. I thought about it many times in the past, not only for Indy, for many games.
But it'll be good !
As I posted on another thread Indy future after Indy 5 is based on videogames {good videogames} in my opinion.
 

IndyJoey

Member
Another thing to remember with a rockstar style game

Indy is always surrounded by adventures, in YIJC he always seems to be surrounded by it, and to some extent, it seems to follow him around, in a manner like a troublemaker creates trouble everywhere, indy creates adventures everywhere. Having an entire planet would be near impossible, just because of how huge the game would have to be, but you could put in certain places, with airports etc, to move around, and have temples to explore and you could place it in the 40's so everyone would still be at war, and i think it would be incredibly fun to explore places indy already explored but in higher graphics. Think about it, how many of you have wanted to visit the chachapoyan temple? You know it would be cool. but then there would be things like side quests too. or you could have it surrounded around the school. his house could be like a base of course, but people at the school, and his friends, could have him going on hunts.i could see the game working, but just not over a HUGEEEE map, cause it would just be too big of a game to work. but again, we also need real archaeology in here. or there can be like a newspaper, telling of things like, when we accidentally find something, indy could be the first to explore it, if you choose to. just some ideas forming... idk though, i could see it being either the best game ever, or one of the most disappointing games ever...
 
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