I assume you''ve seen "The Outer Limits" tv series? How about making a game that would be like it? When you begin the game, you''ll see some sort of prologue, 2-4 minutes, that tells what the situation is in the game. Eg. You''re on a spaceship and aliens are attacking (poor example but don''t worry about it). Then the game starts. But it only lasts 1-2 hours, no matter what you do in the game. It would offer you an unique fixed length of entertainment and you would every time get a totally new adventure in a totally new setting. The adventures would naturally be generated by some heavy AI algorithms. Anyway.. how do you like this game idea, that would offer lots of short (sci-fi) adventures instead of one big adventure? I know it''s a bit weird idea so I''m open for criticism. -Hans [home]

If you can make an AI that can generate good (or even half-decent) stories and adventures, then not only will you be the richest game developer around, but you''ll also have put most of us out of business.

Now what might work is if you have some "template" adventures and then a kind of fill-in-the-blank detail system. Even if you did a good job with this, though, it won''t be the story drawing people to the game-- it''ll have to be the gameplay. Either that, or you make so many very detailed templates, that you''re basically just doing the fill-in-the-blanks on just the details, but then that really just approaches being more work than writing new stories each time.

Other than that, i''ve been thinking of similar ideas (no randomly-generated stories, though), and i think that it''s not such a bad idea. Get people on a cheap subscription, or a bundle for a fixed price, and then the programming costs decrease as you crank out tons of story and artwork sets.

Internet distribution really works well for this model (download the executable, and then a whole bunch of art and scripts for each story), which makes it fit for the indie developer...

Those are my thoughts, at least.

-ben.c

It''s a good idea, but to me it falls into the catagory of "Wouldn''t it be neat if we could recreate the world down to the atom!" This might sound harsh, but I just don''t feel you are grounded in what it would take to make such an engine.

What you want is an engine that will dynamically generate engaging stories. I''ve thought a good deal about this, and it''s not so easy. Also how do you keep a game 1-2 hours long when the player is free to stand in one spot for 4 hours? Or you have a really stupid player that takes an hour to figure out he has a key in his inventory that will open some door?

Remember, TV shows are fun to watch. Games aren''t tv shows. They''re games. Don''t try to tell a story. Make a game that let''s people tell their own stories.

Ut

It''s a good idea, but to me it falls into the catagory of "Wouldn''t it be neat if we could recreate the world down to the atom!" This might sound harsh, but I just don''t feel you are grounded in what it would take to make such an engine.

What you want is an engine that will dynamically generate engaging stories. I''ve thought a good deal about this, and it''s not so easy. Also how do you keep a game 1-2 hours long when the player is free to stand in one spot for 4 hours? Or you have a really stupid player that takes an hour to figure out he has a key in his inventory that will open some door?

Remember, TV shows are fun to watch. Games aren''t tv shows. They''re games. Don''t try to tell a story. Make a game that let''s people tell their own stories.

Ut

Ut and Sherlem, I wasn''t saying I could do an AI system that generates stories. Or that *anyone* could at the moment. The main point was the idea itself about 1-2 hour long games.

If the player is really stupid and stays in one spot for 1 hour, then a message "to be continued..." will appear on screen . Ok maybe not..

Hmm.. maybe this was a bad idea. Or then it just needs more consideration .

There is no such thing as a bad idea, just bad planning to develop it,(or the 6 p''s: proper prior planning prevents poor production).