Film Noir Simulation

[Kenneth Lu <kenlu@MIT.EDU>]

Here's this game idea I have.  I doubt whatever I end up making will 
actually be like this, but it's sort of a thought experiment, I 
guess..

I was trying to figure out how to make a simulation game about 
people, well, interesting, plotwise.  I was also trying to figure out 
how to turn this into an actual game, instead of just something to 
watch.

So imagine a world of mobsters, crooked cops, members of high 
society, temptresses, and private eyes..  The characters would be 
written to have a random assortment of motivations, such as money, 
revenge, lust, loyalty.. and they'd thus each having goal(s) they 
want to reach.. and they'd have to reach these goals through 
relationships with other characters.. altogether ending up in a big 
web of deals and betrayals..


This simulation runs for a bit, and a murder happens.  In comes the 
player, a detective.  He can try to interact with the world and just 
try to make money, or whatever.. but his stated goal will be to solve 
the murder.. to unravel the web of interactions that led to the 
murder, and find out who the killer was and why they did it.

This would thus make the complexity of the interactions key to the 
gameplay.. and it would provide a way of looking at the simulation in 
a very restrict way (from the POV of the detective) and thus make the 
nature of the simulation itself precisely what the player is 
interested in.


I haven't really thought about the details or feasibility of this at 
all, and I'm certain this isn't something I'd come even close to 
within a few years.. but there's my idea, anyway.

What do y'all think?

-ToastyKen

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| Kenneth Lu - kenlu@mit.edu - http://www.mit.edu/~kenlu/ |
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| "Life is far too important to be taken seriously."      |
|                                                         |
|                                          -- Oscar Wilde |
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