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What do you think about this video game idea?

Drizzlehell

Banned
I was inspired by this while recently playing Need For Speed 4: Road Challenge.

There's an interesting mechanic in that game that I don't think was ever replicated in any of the subsequent NFS games (or any racing game for that matter) even though some of them were ripe for it. So for those who never played that game, the whole career mode revolves around entering a series of championships where you have to put some money upfront to even enter the competition. However, at the end of each championship you face like a chapter boss or whatever and you both put your own cars on the line, and if you happen to lose the race then that's it, you lose your wheels. But if you win, then you get your opponent's car. Although the game does kinda puss out on fully committing to this risk vs. reward idea and if you don't have a backup vehicle stored in your garage, then the game won't even allow you to enter the race. And even if you lose it then it's not that big of a deal because you can easily get another one just like it and it's like whatever man. There's not even that much to do in terms of customization.

So here's my idea - no half-measures. You put your ride on the line and if you lose it and have no backup ride then it's game over, start over.

Now, this would be just the basic premise. Not exactly a roguelike because there won't be any permanent unlocks that would carry over between the runs or randomly generated stuff (although maybe it would be an interesting addition, idk, haven't considered it fully yet), but definitely a game with a permanent fail state that would raise the stakes of each career run. On top of that, however, I also think it would be a pretty great idea to rig the game's economy in such a way that you'd basically get enough starting money to buy a starting vehicle but most cars in the game would be expensive enough that buying additional ones would be impossible, and you'd only win enough money from races to spend on upgrades, customization, and maintenance. And this customization and maintenance would be like a huge part of the game and there would be a lot of it, right down to the cosmetic shit where you could even pimp out your dashboard, tinker with the performance, etc. The goal would be to force the player to grow attached to his car just as if it was your real ride. And then you could add some gameplay features that would increase this bond through adversity and hardship. Like, let's say that there would be these random rivals that would be dogging you throughout the entire career. You know, pushing you off the road during races, smashing through these destructible obstacles like they had in NFS Most Wanted, all of which would cause vehicle damage that would then cost extra money to repair. And then of course you'd also have an opportunity to get back at them, and you'd get some sort of permanent unlocks, customization items or trophies that you could later review to reminisce about the journey and shit.

There may be some more ideas that could help solidify this bond between you and your car but the ultimate point would be that losing your wheels would be like a really big deal and you could even lose the entire game with no option to reload a save or whatever. You'd have to start over from the beginning. Maybe there could be an easy mode that wouldn't have this permadeath mechanic, or you could at least earn some kind of vehicle tokens that would save you from losing the entire career and you could for example get an extra get-out-of-jail-free car that would help you get back on your feet. Or maybe you could just use the cars that you won from previous boss races, but that original car that you worked on so hard since the beginning of the career and grew attached to would be gone. Maybe there would be a chance to get it back once you reach the final boss of the game, but for the remainder of the career you'd have to settle for a replacement.

So that's the basic idea. Thoughts? Feedback? Any other ideas that you think could improve this premise? Discuss.
 
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Drizzlehell

Banned
batman-so-thats.gif
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
imo it would be cooler if you could put additional mortages on your house, so you can try again with a new car but oh boy, lose that and say goodbye to your house and family.

Maybe it could a game like The Sims, but with car racing.
 

01011001

Banned
they could totally implement that has a hardcore mode in Need for Speed Unbound.

it already has the betting on races, having to pay your way into races, and it has car prices for some.

they could add it so that you also lose your car if you go for a race where a car is on the line.

and they could make it so that you're game over if you're loosing too much money
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
imo it would be cooler if you could put additional mortages on your house, so you can try again with a new car but oh boy, lose that and say goodbye to your house and family.

Maybe it could a game like The Sims, but with car racing.
Lol, maybe we could also have a minigame where you have to haggle with a used car salesman or reset the mileage before putting up your car on resale.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
they could totally implement that has a hardcore mode in Need for Speed Unbound.

it already has the betting on races, having to pay your way into races, and it has car prices for some.

they could add it so that you also lose your car if you go for a race where a car is on the line.

and they could make it so that you're game over if you're loosing too much money
Oh yeah, I forgot that they did add that to Unbound. Too bad it didn't go all in on this idea either, lol.

Initially I was just thinking about making a retro-style racing game in the vein of those super old Need For Speed or Test Drive games. It's kinda strange that there's no nostalgia for a modern, retro-style game like that considering how retro-style indie games are so popular these days.

Although when I started thinking about it, I also realized that maybe it's because it would be just another racing game that would lack originality. Which brough on this idea of maybe making something more interesting with the concept and mixing in some unique elements to it to spice the game up.
 

01011001

Banned
Oh yeah, I forgot that they did add that to Unbound. Too bad it didn't go all in on this idea either, lol.

Initially I was just thinking about making a retro-style racing game in the vein of those super old Need For Speed or Test Drive games. It's kinda strange that there's no nostalgia for a modern, retro-style game like that considering how retro-style indie games are so popular these days.

Although when I started thinking about it, I also realized that maybe it's because it would be just another racing game that would lack originality. Which brough on this idea of maybe making something more interesting with the concept and mixing in some unique elements to it to spice the game up.

yeah. I think bringing back some oldschool style games means you need to add elements that make them stand out.

one of my ideas was a Crazy Taxi reboot with a story mode that's basically a rogue lite. I think that would work really well with a game that was always all about trying over and over again to get better results.
 

Fbh

Member
Could be fun I guess.
The problem with a racing "roguelike" is that it's going to be hard to add true variety to each run which at least to me is essential for a game like this to stay entertaining. You could add some random factor to the cars available to you in the beginning, but I don't think some different handling and acceleration are going to be enough variety for most players.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
That was more or less the premise Street Legal Racing Redline had, the worst best racing game ever made.

It does what you want, but its really, truly, candidly, pure jank

If i'm not mistaken, test drive unlimited 2 also had some pink slip races and some customization. But getting money for additional multiple cars wasn't hard.
 
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SlimeGooGoo

Party Gooper
That was more or less the premise Street Legal Racing Redline had, the worst best racing game ever made.

It does what you want, but its really, truly, candidly, pure jank

If i'm not mistaken, test drive unlimited 2 also had some pink slip races and some customization. But getting money for additional multiple cars wasn't hard.
This screams Unity game engine
 

coffinbirth

Member
Tons of games have done this to varying degrees, Forza, Midnight Club, Juiced, and there was even (at least) a game that focused solely on this, but the name escapes me. Still a neat concept, nonetheless.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
It's a great idea! There are so many games where there isn't really much of a consequence for losing your car, even in Gran Turismo where cars are rare and hard to buy you can have an empty garage and still get by.
Having actual stakes and forcing you to win or lose your car + save would create a really risky game, it'd be the most interesting car game we'd have in years
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
Google juiced - pink slip races
I vaguely remember this. It was basically bootleg NFS Underground back in the hey, no? Might give it a look, then, out of curiosity.

That was more or less the premise Street Legal Racing Redline had, the worst best racing game ever made.

It does what you want, but its really, truly, candidly, pure jank

If i'm not mistaken, test drive unlimited 2 also had some pink slip races and some customization. But getting money for additional multiple cars wasn't hard.
Ah yeah, TDU2 wasn't bad but I remember that the always-online shit was annoying and straight up busted, not to mention that it's probably not even functional anymore.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
yeah. I think bringing back some oldschool style games means you need to add elements that make them stand out.

one of my ideas was a Crazy Taxi reboot with a story mode that's basically a rogue lite. I think that would work really well with a game that was always all about trying over and over again to get better results.
Hell yeah, that would definitely add a lot of replayability, considering that Crazy Taxi was an arcade game suited for playing in short sessions with only a high score to get you by.

Could be fun I guess.
The problem with a racing "roguelike" is that it's going to be hard to add true variety to each run which at least to me is essential for a game like this to stay entertaining. You could add some random factor to the cars available to you in the beginning, but I don't think some different handling and acceleration are going to be enough variety for most players.
Yeah, that's why I wouldn't want it to be a rogue like. More like a game with "permadeath". Although this rival system could have some randomness to it at least.

It's a great idea! There are so many games where there isn't really much of a consequence for losing your car, even in Gran Turismo where cars are rare and hard to buy you can have an empty garage and still get by.
Having actual stakes and forcing you to win or lose your car + save would create a really risky game, it'd be the most interesting car game we'd have in years
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My thinking exactly. Games like Road Challenge would be so much more interesting/engaging if there was some heavy customization and risk of permanently losing your car involved.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
You can still get it working right now, offline or even online

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Test_Drive_Unlimited_2
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I did that after posting this thread and played it for a bit with some - cough - enhancements that dumps all of the non-functioning online shit from the game. I still used my boxed copy for installation though, I should mention.

Honestly, it's a surprisingly fun game with a satisfying driving model that's one of those 50-50 splits between arcade'y fun with somewhat realistic physics. The only thing that's really bad about it are those in-game cinematics that not only are unskippable but they also look terrible. Anyway, very underrated game.
 
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Guilty_AI

Member
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I did after posting this thread and played it for a bit with some - cough - enhancements that dumps all of the non-functioning online shit from the game. I still used my boxed copy for installation though, I should mention.

Honestly, it's a surprisingly fun game with a satisfying driving model that's one of those 50-50 splits between arcade'y fun with somewhat realistic physics. The only thing that's really bad about it are those in-game cinematics that not only are unskippable but they also look terrible. Anyway, very underrated game.
I remember really disliking the physics, especially coming from the first game which had a great handling model
 
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