continuity in games?

I'm new here and not in the industry by any means, but it reminds me of the shift in the Warcraft series and how they went from one game type to another. Personally, I think the idea is absolutely worth pursuing. One thing that bothers me about a lot of the video games out today is that they are very predictable in the way a series or collection of games are all FPS or RPG or RTS, etc.. So, an idea like this seems like a great concept and has a lot of potential for showing different aspects of a world that can't be shown in the other game styles. Like I said, I'm no expert by any means, but I feel like new concepts in video games are starting to get a huge push with titles like Limbo, Amnesia, and Dear Esther.

Outside of the gaming industry, this seems to be a big trend in comics. Maybe a look into how those different stories and alternate universes tie together to make a whole. Slightly different, but still worth a google.

Only two points really to make from my perspective.

• Yes. You can absolutely create a Universe which will incorporate any idea that you might have. Fitting them altogether contextually might be somewhat problematical but only in, as limited by your imagination. Given a lack of detail regarding your ideas I cannot really offer a specific viewpoint or suggestion. You might wish to update your post with more detail regarding the type of story/backdrop you would think of to encompass your ideas.
  
  
  
  • Whilst I applaud the eagerness of brainstorming many video game ideas, allow me to only caution you with one simple reality. It is much easier to design one game at a time (unless of course you possess the resources to do otherwise). Brainstorming will always give you 101 ideas; making one of those ideas into reality is where most people stop. Don't get disheartened.
    
    Just realised that I actually forgot to answer the point of your post. As an idea it has merit. I think it will be difficult to bring about but then how does an ant eat an elephant. Inline with different game genres under one theme -- you might give consideration as to how advertising can be shown through different mediums; i.e. from skywriting to television to street artists to print and so on, as a form of real life validation to your idea having merit. As to whether you should pursue it? Always pursue a dream till practicality enters your reality and you stop to feed the fish. But the real answer is I don't know -- All you have at the moment is an idea, it needs more development just to get to a point where you can answer that for yourself.

It's been done before. Warcraft, Starcraft, LOTR, Halo have all done this before, probably a few others too. Mixing different gameplay types in the same game may not be a good idea, but if you simply make different games within the same universe, you should be fine.

I think it's achievable, but what do you hope to get out of it? I think only a minority of people would both play YOUR games and play CROSS-GENRE. There are some examples of games which combine FPS and RTS, etc, but it's hard to integrate them well.

One approach which may give you a lot of value is using game B to create content for game C. For example, in your sci-fi FPS or RPG (game C) there are TVs which show the highlights of the hovercar racing (Game A) and the mech fighting (Game B). It would give the sense of a larger society behind the game. Maybe you can bet on the racing, and get an autograph from the winner.

I agree with Stormynature. More details about the game ideas and how they could tie together would help. In my mind, I'm thinking a military type game with an FPS for the special unit's view, RTS for a commander's view, and RPG-FPS for a more in-depth grunt's view of ranking up and such. That type of relationship is what I see playing out well together. Especially if they influence the multiplayer in each. That would be the sickest series of games ever, if done well.

After a bit of meditation, i see the series not so much being influenced by the setting, but rather by consequences from past games.
One example i can think of is a medieval RPG; A kingdom is under attack by a rouge army led by a military leader of a particular race. Once the game is complete and the kingdom is saved, people become extremely prejudiced and distrusting of that particular race in a game set several hundred years in the future.

Am going to have a rather length reply to your last post there Mrecks but given it 5.42am in my world will re-edit it into this in about 12 hours. Also: rogue not rouge

never ever step on your modem (my lesson for today ><)

Well 3 hours of sleep and 1 broken modem later I get around to re-editing this post into the reply I promised. I am going to step away from the element of game design completely in this post and just concentrate on the writing. To be blunt you need to define your examples with more detail in the posting. As an idea you have a premise but then you leave me with asking questions like the following:

A kingdom is under attack by a rouge army led by a military leader of a particular race. Once the game is complete and the kingdom is saved, people become extremely prejudiced and distrusting of that particular race in a game set several hundred years in the future.

• Why was the kingdom attacked?
  
• Was this rogue army an internal civil rebellion, a neighbouring country, a horde?
  
• You mention “a particular race”. Is this a species differentiation, a differentiation in colour or a different culture?
  
• Why was the kingdom attacked; a land grab, resources, simply in the way or diplomatic mishap?
  
  
  Okay so the kingdom is saved and several hundred years later the next game has as its premise “the inhabitant of this kingdom don’t trust and are racist to the descendants of an army that invaded them several hundred years ago and lost”.
  
  Why?
  
  If I take what you say and then try to develop a basic plotline it might go something like this:
  
  The horde of eastern savages led by the evil warlord (insert appropriately barbaric name) invaded the sweet, gentle kingdom of (insert appropriately bucolic name). The level of barbarity was unlike anything imaginable. Wells were poisoned, fields were salted, livestock slaughtered, villages were sacked and depravities placed upon the innocent inhabitants of the kingdom. Wherever they passed nothing would grow for generations. After an incredibly desperate and last minute defence bought about by one brilliant mind the kingdom was saved and the horde was shattered. Time passed and the remnants of the horde broke into small groups. Maintaining their nomadic ways, they in their quaint caravans became travellers of the road never staying at any village long (think gypsies -a reviled, second-class citizen).
  
  Now by no means do I expect this in any way to match what is in your mind and the ideas you are having. What I am endeavouring to do is provide you with one form of a theme which provides enough detail that a person can start creating elements for a game design around, whilst keeping in line with the minimal information you have imparted. Note that I am not trying to creatively write a theme but rather define a structured idea. This is what I meant earlier by you need to develop your idea more or if you have – present them in your posts. You have the ideas now give me more

After a bit of meditation, i see the series not so much being influenced by the setting, but rather by consequences from past games.
One example i can think of is a medieval RPG; A kingdom is under attack by a rouge army led by a military leader of a particular race. Once the game is complete and the kingdom is saved, people become extremely prejudiced and distrusting of that particular race in a game set several hundred years in the future.

Hmm... I don't see many nations being prejudiced against Germans even half a hundred years after the WW2. In other words you're not really bound by anything save for the setting you chose for your series.

Building a lot of different genres in a game is kind of difficult, takes a lot of time and the end result could be kind of messed up because the player constantly changes controls and way of thinking all the time.

So you must first decide, what do you mean by implementing different ideas? You mean different characters, styles of play, styles of control? Fore example you have 5 playable characters and each has his own unique style of control and interacts with the environement in a very different way than anyone else? This could really get the player confused, bored of learning each control and subsequently make him abandon th game.

For me the best way to implement your ideas would be to create a universe, just like Super Mario Galaxy 2, where you may have 1 or 2 controllable characters (this will also make the player bond better with the main character(s)), that can travel to different planets / paintings / continents, whatever you like and have kind of similar style of control but the player must interact with the environement and/or enemies in a different way to get to the goal.

A really good example from movies is Crash (2005) for this logic where there are many stories on L.A. all intertwined with each other but the feeling and the setting of the movie is the same.

A game that comes to mind that has implemented many "games" in one stand-alone title is TLoZ series where a lot of the mini games could be stand-alone games of their own.

The important thing is to create an unfelt transition from game to game to the player so this will not confuse him but actually enthrill him and make him want to play more.

Hello Gamedev, i am currently in the brainstorming phase of several different video games. I am currently
playing with the idea of making all of these games persist within the same "universe".
Given all my current ideas do not fall into the same genre of game, but i feel as though its possible to make
them all fit together like a puzzle somehow.
Is this an idea worth pursuing? Everyone i have asked so far seems to enjoy the idea, but i was hoping i could
get a more professional and peer driven opinion.

Sorry about trying to resurrect this topic, but i was away for school and was hoping i could further emphasize my idea.

Lets say game A is an Action adventure game with a character who wields a particular sword After the events of his/her game, he/she dies and is forgotten by history.
Game B(on the other hand) is a fighting game, where a character has unearthed The sword from Game A and uses it in Game B.

[quote name='MRECKS' timestamp='1329789574' post='4915028']
Hello Gamedev, i am currently in the brainstorming phase of several different video games. I am currently
playing with the idea of making all of these games persist within the same "universe".
Given all my current ideas do not fall into the same genre of game, but i feel as though its possible to make
them all fit together like a puzzle somehow.
Is this an idea worth pursuing? Everyone i have asked so far seems to enjoy the idea, but i was hoping i could
get a more professional and peer driven opinion.

Sorry about trying to resurrect this topic, but i was away for school and was hoping i could further emphasize my idea.

Lets say game A is an Action adventure game with a character who wields a particular sword After the events of his/her game, he/she dies and is forgotten by history.
Game B(on the other hand) is a fighting game, where a character has unearthed The sword from Game A and uses it in Game B.
[/quote]

Do you mean like a series? Isn't that what Bioware did with Mass Effect series? One ending led to the different beginning in the next game, and so on because the later series were able to read the save file of the previous series and begin the story like that (and for people who do not have previous series' save file, they had the default data)

But the only difference now is that meanwhile the first game was FPS, second game is Fighting game. Then the third game becomes RTS, and so on.

Do you mean like a series? Isn't that what Bioware did with Mass Effect series? One ending led to the different beginning in the next game, and so on because the later series were able to read the save file of the previous series and begin the story like that (and for people who do not have previous series' save file, they had the default data)

But the only difference now is that meanwhile the first game was FPS, second game is Fighting game. Then the third game becomes RTS, and so on.

That it a very good way of explaining it. To explain it in a nutshell would be to say that the lore would be continued and expanded upon.
The events and figures of game A may be ancient history to people from game B, or perhaps game C happened because the choices (or lack there of)
of the individuals from game A.

It seems that a flowchart would be a good way to organize this information and begin to develop the ideas you have.

Starting at the beginning, actually go through the key decision points you have built up in your head. My advice would be not to even worry about this being a game series and instead, focus on the story itself. Once the key decisions have been plotted out, you can begin to chart out the other decisions that lead up to the big ones.

It seems that a flowchart would be a good way to organize this information and begin to develop the ideas you have.

Starting at the beginning, actually go through the key decision points you have built up in your head. My advice would be not to even worry about this being a game series and instead, focus on the story itself. Once the key decisions have been plotted out, you can begin to chart out the other decisions that lead up to the big ones.

...I feel so silly for not thinking of this earlier. That would make everything so much easier.