Some game ideas are quite out there (DEFCON: based on the idea of "Mutually Assured Destruction", also, based on a certain game from that 80s film 'WARGAMES'.) , some not so much... (Uplink: Play as a Hacker)
then I got to thinking of the current state of Franchise Games. That is... Games based on/spawned from films/television/comics/so on and so forth. There's the brilliant games - Batman Arkham series comes to mind as one I've heard is brilliant but haven't played myself, drowned out by the Horrible ones (most all movie-based-games) with middling titles (the bulk of the star trek and star wars archive)
And I thought, there's some room for games where they just haven't moved into yet.
Lets start with an example from one series, and apply it to another: Star Trek Invasion for the PS1. I actually liked this game, though it doesn't actually fit very well with the trek universe. To me, the Defiant is the fighter of the show (and those fighter wings we saw in the dom war dont seem to do much.... then again shields didn't seem to exist except for hero ships either.)
Basic Synopsis of it: Fighter plane in Space, also, it's star trek so the fighters have a myriad of weapons, and can pick more up/have loads all at once... Also includes a youre-a-Turret level, which again, doesnt fit the universe its in.
so lets take that game, and apply it to something that it was so obviously meant for...
Battlestar Galactica.
Turrets: Yep, they would have theirs manned, since they dont trust computers that much, and they'd need those networked for co-ordination otherwise.
Fighters: Vipers!
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Now lets take another. Say, battlefield... and apply a scifi franchise-type facade over the top of it... oh look, Battlestar Galactica again, and vehicles would include the Raptor and Viper... and you could have that turret level in this too. I'm thinking for a series of interconnected storytelling:
Battlestar Galactica: Colonial Marines (FPS)
Follow Insert Name Here as he/she is caught in the middle of the Cylon's return and annihalation of the twelve colonies. Play as one of insert number here, from different backgrounds, different paths, eventually joining the Galactica crew and going on missions (some new, some taken from the show). Half imagining it as episodic... Co-Op also, Offline/LAN/Internet-console.
BSG:CM - Pegasus DLC
Play as a marine assigned to the Pegasus during the events of Razor (from the incident at the shipyard through to the year-or-so-later attack on a first-cylon-war-era base-star.)
CM would be like Battlefield in the size of the environs... for instance, the Starboard Hanger Bay (the one that used to be the museum)... Mission: Cylons have infiltrated the Galactica, but so far they're confined to the starboard pod. You and your team (squad-based, so some commands?) are to search and destroy/hold a position.... A port-side-pod with 'EVA combat Suit', and maybe using the pod vehicles (tractor unit, Raptor...)
I've got in mind a rather good sequence... You play a combat engineer in the marines, though necessity means everyone's having learn cross-train. You start in the gun range, because you're more about fixing things than shooting them, when you get the call to report for briefing. If you get lost on the way, well, open-world-type exploration of the BSG but with plenty of closed doors. you get briefed, and as you'r ein the middle of the briefing, that field-of-view effect that is used to show a jump happens... and as you're on the way, kitted out, the ship rocks. your "Guard Duty" mission has changed... You leg it to the hanger deck, and board one of the three Raptors that are waiting, and in the distance, Vipers are being launched.
Cutscene type from here, you watch as the raptors launch from inside the pod's landing deck, out through the gap and then taking formation with some escorts (all the while, radio chatter being the only noise - background low, while your escort is louder as they say what's changed..)
And then you see the whole lot approach and enter a planet atmosphere... inside, sheer knocks the pilot out, and you (still a cutscene, no control) take the controls (yes yes pun) ... then you get control back, and a view from outside the raptor. task: control the descent, too slow and the chasing cylons will get you, too fast and you will burn up and/or slam into the ground. Hard to judge with the flames....
On the planet, various missions take place, then you have to bug out and do the flight back to orbit and maybe land.
Liberation of the Twelve Colonies (Single/Mulitplayer co-op/MMO FPS/Third-Person)
The Galactica and Pegasus have sent forces to liberate each of the twelve colonies. (Star Wars Battlefront style: can be done singleplayer but better in co-op)
what you guys think? (I am not a game dev.... otherwise I'd have tried to make these games before, or sell the idea to studios at least.)