Chase - A New SP Gameplay Mode
About
I’m fascinated by chase scenes in movies and real life. My fascination comes from the decision making process. I used to imagine myself as a film director and saying to the actors: “Okay, this is the chase scene. I want you to just flee. The camera will follow you where ever you go. Somebody will be chasing you to simulate the villain”
The idea was to pretend that it was real. There would be no set route. They could retry a few times and we would simply see what happens.
How often do you think they would escape? What choices would they make? Run through the market and hope to get lost in the crowd? Keeping running until they can blend into the crowd? Run into the subway station and jump onto the train just moments before the doors close!
The point is that real-life chases are SO very different from the movies (Yes, isn’t everything!), but the basic concept of being chased and having to make choices is intriguing.
Gameplay Mode
With a little thought and planning this could perhaps be made into a new SP gameplay mode. In a similar way that Kreedz focused on the climbing and jumping elements of basic gameplay, RHEM (Run, Hide, Escape Mode - Working Title!) will focus on the running and hiding elements.
Of course chases have featured in many, many games but to my knowledge not as a specific gameplay mode. Please allow me to explain the basic idea. Firstly there are two submodes:
- Time
In this mode the player simply has to remain free for as long as possible. This could include simply running or using other transport and or hiding. - Objective
In this gameplay mode the player has to reach one of a number of predetermined points. This points are never explicitly given to the player but clues would be available within the map.
Custom Made Maps - Of Course!
Talking of maps, they would of course need to be made especially. I envisage city-styled maps but I suppose that there’s no reason why all forms of environment couldn’t be used.
The Start
For this example I have used Half-Life 2 as the game. The player would simply start a map by walking, at a random time (a few seconds to a maximum of one minute) either Combine soldiers or Metrocops would shout “There he is!” and the chase would begin. No doubt novel ways could be introduced to start the maps, perhaps even some trigger events.
No Drivable Vehicles
There would be no drivable vehicles in the maps because that has been done with other games, this mode is about other elements. There could be trains that the player can board and maybe trams etc but nothing that the player can directly control.
Custom A.I.
The A.I. would also need to be configured and optimized for this mode. Once the player is out of sight the enemy would need to make guesses rather than know where the player is. I have no idea how this would be implemented but I am sure they are plenty of possibilities
Difficulty Levels
As with normal games and mods, this mode would feature varying degrees of difficulty and this would manifest itself in shooting accuracy, perseverance, speed and observational skills of the chasers.
Mappacks
Once the gameplay features have been created and optimized I am sure that a collection of custom designed maps could be made that follow on from one another. Each map would get progressively harder in one form or another.
Shooting?
I still imagine that players would be able to shoot but this is not the main element of the game. I envisage the player starting with the pistol and a full ammo compliment. Perhaps extra ammo could be collected from dead soliders or cops but this would need plenty of testing.
Conclusion
Story and Objective based SP maps are great fun but I feel that there are plenty of other possibilities for SP maps. This is just one idea I have that hopefully will inspire somebody to experiment with various gameplay modes.
If you are a developer and would like to discuss this concept with me in greater detail please contact me.
What do you think about it?
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