Necromunda video game

[darkbarlow]

Why Necromunda hasn't been converted to video game format is beyond me. I'll just jot a few thoughts down here and wait for feedback.

1) GW video games (for the most part) have been real time strategy conversions of Warhammer and 40k. While I'm sure they're commercially successful they're never PHENOMENALLY successful and reviews tend to be fair to middlin'. Catering to the tabletop fan base generates little or no interest in the majority of the video game marketplace.

2) An MMORPG isn't the way to go either. Did anyone really think Warhammer Online could successfully tap into that market by competing with World of Warcraft? Subscribers are down by half already and servers are starting to shut down for financial reasons. I saw this coming before the game even launched. All these different MMO's with all their different subscription models and the best money maker out there is downloadable content for existing games. Sure, the players gripe...right before they pony up another $10 more of a good thing. Keep it small, several players instead of hundreds in the game.

3) First/third person shooters and games with a post apocalyptic feel do incredibly well. Combine the two and forget about it: Fallout 3, Gears of War, Borderlands, etc. Borderlands is a great example of what Necromunda could be in video game format: Tons of gun play, character skill trees, multiplayer online, endless loot...watch this franchise take off, all from scratch without using an existing franchise as a crutch. This could have been Necromunda.

Again, feedback welcome. I'd love to hear ideas for what you'd like to see in this nonexistent game as well.

[IBBoard]

1) Fire Warrior being the major exception as an FPS (albeit one that got somewhat slated for balance etc), as well as Rites of War, Chaos Gate and the original Space Hulk...oh, and half of the new Blood Bowl game. I think it is actually close to 50:50 for RTS vs others.

2) WHO could have been great if a) most of the Warhammer community weren't more interested in the models/painting/physical aspects and b) if loads of WoW players didn't think that WHO was a rip-off of WoW (instead of the slightly more accurate inverse). I never played it, but a guy in my office did who is in his 40s, divorced and a bit of an RPG nut. He said it was a great game, despite him generally hating GW, but that most of his friends already played WoW and so he'd probably not stick with it.

DLC is just "nickel and diming" the customer and is terrible when it is abused as most companies do it. It can be done right, and I think DoW2 has a bit of free downloadable content, but when games like Sims 3 start giving you free downloads and have loads more on release day in their shop. If it was available in time for release then why is it not on the disk? Charging for it when it is there from the start just screams "we want to extract every single penny we can from you".

3) Necromunda as an FPS would be okay, but it'd mainly just be a themed FPS. Half of Necromunda was always about having a gang, working together, promoting your juves to gangers and generally progressing a gang to conquer more and more territory. Having said that, the only game I've played from that list is Fallout 3, so I don't know how the others approach things.

[NBKFuzzy]

Borderlands would be the most similar approach. In Borderlands you can play with anywhere from 1-4 players working together each being a different class, fighting bandits and treasure hunting. I would imagine a necromunda game would be closest to this.

However, it has always been my dream to see a good w40k fps game. Take an Aliens vs Predator game feeling to it and it could be great. I can imagine Space Marines (or Imperial Guard), Chaos, Eldar, and Ork being easily put into an fps stage. Come on, GW, get your act together!

[darkbarlow]

I was contemplating something more than a themed shooter. This imaginary game would have all the gang building, territory grabbing and rare item finding elements of tabletop. Something along the lines of:

1) You start with a gang of six: Leader, heavy and four gangers. Choose a house, name them all, give them a look, equip them with individual gear. You start with one basic territory which does nothing for you but house your gang. Now you're ready to spread out.

2) Pick one of your members and head into a neighboring zone. Zone maps would be random in layout and content and would have to be explored. What's to the west? An unfriendly settlement with the potential to increase your ranks with the occasional juve, a spore cave the local ratskins view as a ceremonial site or maybe it's a slag heap staked out by a rival gang. Scout the area out, run around killing everything that moves and make it your own. If the zone proves too tough and kills your ganger save it for later when you're better equipped or next time you attempt to capture it bring in the heavy with his auto-cannon...

3) Capture a zone and reap the benefits as long as it remains occupied by a gang member. Recruit more members, generate income, increase your territory, etc. The gang member capturing the zone would gain experience along with better stats, skills, etc. Be sure to scour the zone from top to bottom...Is that a well hidden tunnel access to a new territory/zone deeper in the underhive? There just might be an archeotech hoard down there...

4) Between fights, shuffle your gangers around to where they're needed. Keep your fixers in high income territories, swap gear around, spend your hard earned cash as new rare trades become available. Your leader would be your best fighter but by not using him in a fight and leaving him back at home base you'd be guaranteed a beneficial event before the next fight/zone. Maybe Dead-eye Zeke the bounty hunter offers your gang his services for a price or a trader shows up with a one-in-a-million weapon...

5) Cap levels and limit skills on individual members to insure the gang develops as a whole, the experience gets spread around and every zone isn't cleared by an overused "super ganger". Sure, Dawg is great in a brawl but this zone really calls for a stealthy sniper...

6) Make the campaign map huge with rival AI houses spreading out just like you. In the end there can be only one dominant gang. Lords of the Underhive. This would add a nice tactical element to the game as well.

7) Multiplayer: Cooperative for the most part with a PvP arena type feature. Playing against other players would be great but I don't see how you could keep the tactical. between fight stuff working that way...I'd rather the tactical level game play myself.

So basically I'm envisioning a randomly generated multiplayer turn based tactical first person shooter with light role playing elements. Hey, I know this feeling! It's unrequited love!

[IBBoard]

Sounds like you've been thinking a lot about this - ever considered approaching a game studio with your idea? The only thing I'm not so sure of is the single ganger approach. The Underhive isn't somewhere you want to walk about on your own, and even real world gang members aren't normally walking around solo (especially when entering potentially unfriendly territory). The problem then is how to control the gang - you end up with another RTS or an online team game with no solo play or solo play with useless AI helping you.

Randomly generated maps would be okay and would make it easier on the devs so that the total area wasn't restricted (after all, hives are huge, especially at the bottom) but you'd probably need some kind of weighting to make sure that neighbouring areas weren't too similar.

It would seem like a game that is better as a longer-term solo game, the way you described it, but from what I've heard of them there are games like EVE Online that do a lot of the economy stuff, so tactical play between gangs run by different people should be possible with a bit of thought.

[snowblizz]

OOooohhh... Baldur's Gate style would prolly work for this. 6 player characters to "run". (Obviously doesn't HAVE to be exactly 6...) Mixed realtime/turn based so you can give orders and then let it roll.

Similar to the Xcom and Xcom - Terror From the Deep games. One of the best games ever made. Come to think there's somekind of remake going in open source. Ufo:Enemy Unknown or something like that.

This sounds like something I would buy, which says a lot BTW. I refuse to play anything that requires an Internet connection and other people though. I'm a luddidite that way.

[NBKFuzzy]

Similar to the Xcom and Xcom - Terror From the Deep games. One of the best games ever made.

Excuse me? Xcom? I guess some people like impossible games.

[snowblizz]

Similar to the Xcom and Xcom - Terror From the Deep games. One of the best games ever made.

Excuse me? Xcom? I guess some people like impossible games.

Impossible?
I don't understand...

[NBKFuzzy]

If you tell me you beat the original Xcom I wont believe you unless you show evidence.

[snowblizz]

If you tell me you beat the original Xcom I wont believe you unless you show evidence.

I do remember being in Cydonia destroying some Alien Control.

TFTD was functionally identical except you could open doors without walking through them. And I beat that as well many times, THAT I do know for sure.

Got that urge to play again now, I need to dig it up.

[Squig]

why not just mod the crap out of dow 2 to create this... only failing would be no vertical differences througout the game

[IBBoard]

And the excess of glowing effects, which are out of place enough on the battle field but would be even worse in the underhive Also, wouldn't the lack of levels destroy half of what Necromunda was about - setting your gangers up to take the best tactical advantage from bridges, towers and other "grim, dirty underhive girders" scenery?

[NBKFuzzy]

Oh, I dont think your talking about the very original xcom from 1989. All you did was defend the United States against aliens, and after 5 minutes it became impossible.

And again with the glow in DoW2 which doesn't exist. I run dx10 with all settings on ultra and get a 64-100 frame rate. Space Marines and Orks don't glow. Only thing that would "glow" would be a random piece of shrapnel in a desert or jungle map that landed facing the light origin.

Can they glow? Yes. Do they glow standardly? No. All you need to do to make them glow is add in a metallic color in army painter. Think of it as adding in glitter to your paint for the models. No standard army uses the metallic color aside from new ones they added in. (I believe the Marauders)

http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/ ... b90f2e.png
Thats a screenshot of an Imperial Storm Trooper and some tac marines in a window. There is a faint glow on Tarkus from his plasma gun.

[snowblizz]

Oh, I dont think your talking about the very original xcom from 1989. All you did was defend the United States against aliens, and after 5 minutes it became impossible.

No I talk about the Xcom - UFO Defense and Xcom - Terror From The Deep games. 1993 & 1994 respectively I think. Squad based action and all that. Base building. Different levels. See, just can't beat an old game nowadays.

[gore]

(my english is not so good, but I do my best)

Any-one ever played fallout tactics...
It's similar to X-com but I think fallout tactics resembles more tot the necromunda world...
The game is about fighting other factions, no more no less, so some little conversions and voila you have the perfect necromunda videogame...
It's maybe an old game, but I stil play it from time to time...