posted
I see a first, second and third invasion "worlds" in a game. First invasion would have the terror of hand to hand combat with buggers in Earth environments, ending with the cleansing of Eros (was that in the first invasion?)
The second invasion would be somewhat of a puzzle game, figuring out which ships to blow up to stall the fleet. You work from the outer Solar system back toward the earth in that one, with the stakes getting higher. This assumes that there is hierarchy within the bugger hive mind. And with each attack they get a little better at hiding.
The third invasion is what is described as the battle simulator with MDDs, where you as commander become, in essence, the hive mind.
As for the fantasy game, I think a lot of the events in C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair are suggestive of the fantasy game. They are kind of lumped together in my brain. And some of the events toward the end of Voyage of the Dawn Treader. When things get really weird.
The roster building aspect of Battle school could be very interesting, especially in interactive online play.
P.S. My background is that I really like Tetris, Tomb Raider (though I prefer the worlds where you aren't mostly shooting humans) and my favorite Mario was 2.
posted
First of all, a battleroom game would never work. If you made it, then it would have to be a massively multiplayer online game, which costs a lot. But even if you did, there's no point because it would be such a limited game. Sure, there would be some strategy, but that's it. It would make nothing but an average game, and where do you think the prestige of Card's battleroom idea will go?
Secondly, the fantasy game is a brilliant idea but here's the catch: there are about ten ways to do it right, and a thousand to do it wrong. If you made it into just an RPG, it would be horrendous. If you made it with an ending, it would be catastrophic. You need to made the game shifting, and most of all, take out the stupid RPG stuff-an act that is extremely likely to not happen. But the important thing about the fantasy game was both exploration and puzzles. You need to keep creating both. Can it be done with the technology we have today? Perhaps, because Card says so. And yet, Card isn't creating the game.
The best option is to go with a simulator game. But again, there's a catch to this as well. Have any of you ever played StarCraft? Good game, right? Not really. Because it's a phenominal game; the best strategy game ever created. You see, many people don't realize this because they only see the game in the way it was supposed to be played as the programmers thought of it. The possibilities of that game, however, became endless. Some of you who've heard of BoXer, Yellow, or NaDa know this. But StarCraft was one game out of thousands. Can Ender's Game do the same? Are the odds worth it?
Posts: 102 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I want what Tom and Slash want... but multiplayer.
...however, Microsoft delivered that very game with Allegiance many years ago. And you know what? It never took off, because it was too complex for most people. It did, however, garner uniformly excellent reviews and a following so hardcore that the game -- now with the source code released -- is still played.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I'd wait and see what the film did with the look of battle school, then make a game based on the film. I'd make it look like the film and use the actors faces on the characters, to tie it in, and I'd have the players be Ender. And it would be in first person for most of the time.
But.
I'd have elements of team building in there. Earn the respect and trust of your army, which gives you access to more daring manoeuvres in the Battle Room. Make sure your army goes to practices to top up that respect and trust - and to pick up tricks and hints about your next battle. Pick the right soldiers to go into the toons based on their personalities versus the Toon leaders' personalities. The giant's drink game would be very very difficult to make into a game, since you already know the steps Ender takes to get to the end of it. Better to have the Battle School environment, see a little of that world, move around it and be in it, walk past other kids talking about who did what to whom in the battle room earlier, and eventually get to the stage where you walk past them, and they're talking about you.
I don't think the Battle Room would have to be / end up like Quake, particularly... the whole setup is different, with a large part of the tactics being deciding how much of yourself to flash for protection, in addition to zero grav (not just low grav). The stars will make things varied, and Bean would come up with extra kit and tactics provided you gave him items before practise sessions.
I think the whole deal could be really cool. but it comes down to the developer having the vision and the publisher being a little restrained in their deadline demands, being prepared to go three or six months over for a quality product.
posted
well, this thread hasnt been posted in a while and i think ill break the silence. The only game that i would consider worthy of EG is an online roleplay game where you are a kid trying to work your way through battle school.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I guess if you name your character Bonzo and try to kill another person who named their character ender. Unless your tlkaing aobut i different game than the one i just mentioned.
Posts: 1401 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Like Battle School Mafia? We should do that again. I'll try to be less evil this time. *crosses fingers*
Posts: 3956 | Registered: Jun 2001
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My answer is a little out of date, I'm afraid. But better late than never.
I'm also more than 40 (and more than 50) but I think video games DO have sense (and even solid arguments). At least some of them do.
The same with movies and books. Some make sense and some don't.
There are video games for all ages and for all kind of people. Graphic adventures, for instance, are almost unknown nowadays. But they still exist. Fewer but better. And I bet that a lot of people, not teenagers, not even young people, that think thay they don't like video games would change their mind if they know, let's say, "Syberia", "The longest journey" or the "Gabriel Knigght" or "Broken sword" sagas.
Posts: 28 | Registered: May 2004
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posted
OK, no one makes text adventures anymore (sigh)... but I'd love to see a text adventure version of the Giant's Drink. With words, so much can be left to the imagination... and if OSC were to help write it, it could be great...
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I think I've heard somewhere on the net that they ARE making one about the battleroom. Probably just another rumor.
Posts: 19 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Im sean from ireland age 13 huge fan of enders game
Ever since i read the first book i have thought of them making a game of battle scholl the could make it like say championship manager were u say u plan ur stratigies and u make change according to what u do.
Or maybe something like fllet commander with all the games in the game room and battle room similer to ender expirience but from the time when his father should have went. and then u fly the space ship in the final battle of the buggers wars. And ur in the ship that bean controls
make the battle room everything and the could wait till the playstation 3 to release it so it could be so lifelike u acculy thing u were there
Posts: 1 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
If the technology will have a sudden boom (most likely not), and if the people who make it don't screw up, I think a Battleroom might work out. Maybe like a Campaign where you start as a Launchie (in the game it won't be too long, like say ten minutes) to get used to the controls and all. Then you are promoted to a randomly selected Army. When you get traded, your new captain promotes you to toon leader, and so on.
Ofcourse, the Third Invasion will be the same or better. Not as much chances of screwing up. But there are already some of these types of games in the market, not a lot, but some. Maybe they can find a way to make it break apart from the big bunch.
Posts: 19 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
What about a game from the perspective of the Hive Queen?
It would be more strategic and very interesting. At first, you just attack, but over time the "enemy" starts revealing itself as sentient and alien. Then he comes after you, and you have to defend yourself. And you can't win unless you manage to find a way to infiltrate their computer systems. And you have to sacrifice your Homeworld to win.
It would turn everything you know on its head, which would make for an exciting game.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
But anyone who knew the books would know the outcome and there would be no tension... you have to fight these wars even though you know that you ultimately lose them.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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but the truth is, either one made in to a game would be a major disapointment, and I couldn't see it being any good no matter how much I love the books.
Unless you got the same people who make halo, perfect dark or james bond to do a battle room senario.
Or get the people who do banjo and kazooe, etc, to do the fantasy game....
and even then...
Posts: 4 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
Well, first of all, if it were coming out next week, then we'd already know what it would have. We'd have already seen the screenshots, read the online previews, and we'd have already pre-ordered the thing.
But seriously, I find it hard to imagine how an Ender's Game . . . uh, game . . . would be any good. The portions of the book that the 'general public' (whoever they are) would expect out of a video game would be precisely the portions that are already hopelessly cliche. Military training. Flying around in space, shooting at aliens. Yawn. The aspects that made Ender's Game stand out from other SF stories of the type, the psychological aspects, wouldn't translate into a game very well.
As for those who want the Fantasy Game . . . well, maybe as a mini-game within the game. Not as the game itself.
I kind of like the thoughts about having a game where you play as a character you create and then try to work your way up through the Battle School, starting as a launchy and moving up, if you're good, to being the leader of your own toon. I think that of all the possibilties, that would be the most promising.
But, how would it end? Would the player take Ender's place in attacking the Bugger homeworld? Or would the player be one of Ender's pilots? It is Ender's Game, after all. If Ender himself isn't a part of it, then you'd have to call it something cheezy like "Orson Scott Card's Battle School".
Ultimately, I suppose I'll have to see the movie before I can know what I think would work best in the game. (Of course, it is going to be based on the movie. I doubt it would be marketable enough without being a movie tie-in. Sure, we OSC fans would buy it, if it looked promising enough; so would the seriously hard-core gamers who would buy it just because gaming is their life. But without having the movie first, who in that vacuous 'general public' demographic would care?)
Ultimately, though, I think the odds are not good that any EG game would be worthy of the name. Of course I hope I'm proven wrong there, since I love Ender's Game and really want to see a great movie and a great game made out of it. I'm just generally a cynic, though; you might as well know that about me right now. But as OSC himself would probably say, a bad game wouldn't erase the book. So I'm not worried . . . much.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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