Hey everyone,

Just wanna add some caveats about this….

• It is supposed to be big, grandiose etc, and I don't plan on actually making this for years so I have no intention of rushing anything or getting concrete answers now - this is just for fun and I'm solely interested in the thematic and story aspects of the game for the moment.
• My intention with this game is to totally redefine arcade racing and introduce HBO-esque stories to the genre because… I think it's possible, and to do this I want to treat the actual racing differently than… literally anything preceding this. To do this I wanted the “street racing” to be part of what in Crisola City exists as a love of “cars” and “motorsport” but it is not stipulated how this manifests itself, and that the street racing is part of an “ecosystem” of illicit activity as opposed to it's own individual thing.
• I have no experience “making” games. So this is also an opportune time for, if anyone is up for it, to run through the basics (and secrets) of video game storytelling.

Now let's get it started

I guess the “help” I'm looking for is with things like :

- A story that will open the minds of people to the possibility that a racing game can have TV-Show esque stories and still be fun racing games with timeless gameplay and atmosphere

- How to add RPG elements to a racing game in a way that is both innovative and streamlined

- How to add environmental storytelling to a racing game

- How to introduce casual players to car culture(s) in a way that is both engaging and educational

- An ending

- Making a map that is GIGANTIC but has depth and rewards the player for learning it a la Midnight Club

- ... a name lol

Here is a synopsis

Story Synopsis/Characters

In the lion's den that is Crisola City, cops and racers both fall prey to the same base desire - power. Racers battle it out day and night to get the attention of the most prolific crews in their borough, the crews battle it out to keep territory, recruit the best racers and take the title of the undisputed rulers of their area, and cops compete with each other to see who can be the most ruthless in not only shutting down but completely dismantling the street racing scene of Crisola. And there is only one group who stand head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to being as cutthroat and duplicitous as possible in getting what they want - The Silver Mantises. Led by Kevin "Mantis" Denton, a street racing prodigy who won an annual race called Desperado's Route and bought a Lotus Evija with his winnings, leads a group of 4 affluent socialites who spend most of their time on the remote Endola Island and, in just 5 years, have completely taken over street racing activity in Crisola City and have made the racers and crews of the city their own personal Monopoly pieces, replete with lethal consequences for racers and crews that go against their whims or outright refuse to join them entirely. Some racers have capitulated and have become lackeys for the Silver Mantises, but there are 10 who stand between the racers of Crisola and the socialites, and 9 mysterious drivers (3 for each of the boroughs of Crisola - Thornwood Valley, Downtown Crisola and Central Crisola) who are only known by codenames and seem to spend more time patrolling their respective boroughs than actually racing in them. Every attempt to wrestle control of street racing in Crisola from the Silver Mantises has failed miserably, and the Mantises have made examples of the "rebels" by either completely tarnishing their reputation or having them meet mysterious ends. You, representing either the Tuner, Muscle or Exotic/Supercar car classes, enter the russian roulette that is street racing in Crisola City and attempt to climb you way to the top not only for yourself, but for every racer in the city who has been under the yoke of the Silver Mantises. But with the cops, the Silver Mantises, their enforcers, and even some unlikely allies of your own along the way, you have your work cut out for you.

"insert name here" offers a large breadth of choice for progressing through the game. Not only do players have the option of continuing with their class story after their Origin story or not, which comes with it's own race and pursuit bonuses, each of the 25 rivals in the game allow you to choose between 3 different milestone types in order to challenge them - Racing Milestones, Pursuit Milestones and Mission Milestones . The only fixed requirements are having a vehicle with a high enough BHP to challenge a rival and having a minimum amount of Friction points, earned by completing Missions, beating Pursuit milestones and by utilising your crew members' strengths. The higher your Friction points, the higher the chances of you recruiting rivals into your crew as you progress. A combination of the three milestone types is encouraged, but you could go through the entire game only ever taking down cops, winning races or completing missions.

And here is a brief outline of what the story will currently look like

Tuner Origin Story

Solo Tour Of Thornwood Valley

Race 1 - Circuit Race Tutorial

Race 2 - Drift

Pursuit Training

First appearance of Socialites

Race 3 - Touge and Aiko's death

Loose Ends and beginning of Class Story/Main Story

Muscle Origin Story

Solo tour of Downtown Crisola

Race 1 - Sprint

Race 2 - Drag

Police Pursuit

First Appearance Of Socialites

Race 3 - Highway Battle and Trey's Death

Loose Ends and beginning of Class Story/Main Story

Exotic Origin Story

Solo Tour of Central Crisola

Race 1 - Circuit Race Tutorial

Race 2 - Time Trial

Pursuit Training

First appearance of Socialite

Race 3 - Speed Showcase and Landon's death

Loose Ends and beginning of Class Story/Main Story

I want to flip tutorials on their head and have characters who have lives of their own and don't abandon them entirely just to show you the ropes.

Main Story Chapter 1 -

Rival 20

Rival 19

Rival 18

Chapter 1 End

Chapter 2 Beginning -

Rival 17

Rival 16

Rival 15

Chapter 2 Ending

Chapter 3 Beginning - Everyone's A Hero

Rival 14

Rival 13

Rival 12

Chapter 3 Ending

Chapter 4 Beginning

Rival 11

Rival 10

Equinox/Nadir

Rival 9

Chapter 5 Beginning -

Rival 8

Rival 7

Rival 6

Chapter 5 End

Chapter 6 Beginning

Rival 5

Chapter 6 End

Chapter 7

Socialite 1

Socialite 2

Chapter 7 End

Chapter 8 Beginning - Seeing Grey

Socialite 3

Socialite 4

Chapter 8 End

Chapter 9 Beginning

Kevin Denton

Chapter 10

End

As mentioned in the Synopsis, my first attempt at adding RPG elements to a racing game in both spirit and execution are Origin stories by way of Dragon Age Origins that influence the antagonists you come across, the way the world responds to you, the choices you can make etc. But I wanted to take this one step further and add a class story you are incentivised to do but that is totally optional with bonuses and “class skill trees” that are helpful in races but that also advance the plot. A motif of this post is most likely going to be about making signature gameplay features that also serve as plot devices.

The second way I thought of putting RPG elements into a racing game was by having skill trees not only related to your class, but to the car that you drive in such a way that right up until the end of (what I am intentionally making a very long story mode, IDK if this is long but like 35-50 hours of story mode) the story mode, improvements can be made to your car, but I implore anyone to comment on how I would make this distinct from performance customisation for example, as well as, as I said, how it would tie into and advance the plot.

The third and currently final way of adding RPG elements I have thought up is having “companions” that you can take with you every time you leave your garage and whom you can customise the look of as well as the car (if they're a companion from a specific class you can start off with them driving cars solely from their class I.E. the first Rival may only drive Tuner cars but as the story progresses they eventually level up enough to start driving exotics etc) they drive and whom you can take into races with you and control them.

I am attempting to heavily weave themes of Ancestry, Social Mobility and Neo-Noir into this game in a way that is… welcoming. By Ancestry I mean that there are distinct areas of the map that are distinct because of the way they're designed and influenced by these specific parts of the world, being made up of a specific nationality I.E. The “Tuner/JDM” area of the map is made up of canyons and Japanese influenced buildings, the Muscle Area of the map is heavily influenced by Michigan and Ontario, and the Exotic area of the map is made up of Italian and German influenced buildings, architecture etc. I also wanted the origin characters to get the players interested in the lore of the world through subtlety

Anything to add?

RoleRacingGames said:
I have no experience “making” games.

Obviously. The classical beginner mistake is dreaming a about a huge RPG, while your first game should be very small. Gamedev is as hard as people say. By making a small game, you learn this faster, and there is even a chance you might finish it.

But you did not tell what your experience actually is, what's your resources, if you intend to do this alone or with a team, etc.

RoleRacingGames said:
- How to introduce casual players to car culture(s) in a way that is both engaging and educational

I would say RPG and casual rules each other out. Casual usually means a single addictive mechanic, minimizing any complexity on long termed progression systems. RPG is the opposite of that.
And you can't introduce people to car culture in hope they become interested. Either they are interested in cars (and so eventually your game), or they are not. You can't affect this much, so you want to target only the people who already have this interest specifically.

RoleRacingGames said:
A story that will open the minds of people to the possibility that a racing game can have TV-Show esque stories and still be fun racing games with timeless gameplay and atmosphere

For story, a crime background works well for car games. E.g. prohibition of alcohol or something else people want. Illegal car racing could then serve as a distribution network fur such drugs. Police can be the enemy, reputation across drivers can be sort of currency to upgrade skills, and there is opportunity of drama as well. Add some dating sim and love story cut scenes on top, and you have your racing soap opera.

But prepare half a billion dollars to produce such content, if you have AAA 3D standards in mind.

That just said to lower your expectations, which seems what's needed first.

“When your first game should be very small”

Okay, I understand what you're saying, this is going to be my first and only game and I'm in the process of worldbuilding right now. I absolutely hope to have a team when I begin making this.

“I would say RPG and casual rules each other out”

Well that's patently false, Undertale, Diablo 3 and Kingdoms of Amalur all fit into the casual RPG category. There is something to be said for RPG mechanics making approachable first impressions though.

Thank you for the story idea, I'm trying to go further than this and create a rich world to ameliorate the story

@Tom Sloper Well, why not lol

And noted

Tom Sloper said:

RoleRacingGames said:
Well, why not lol

Because you're not going to retire after making and getting rich on one game. lol.

Tom Sloper said:

RoleRacingGames said:
Well, why not lol

Because you're not going to retire after making and getting rich on one game. lol.

That's… exactly what I plan on doing, there is something else I'm doing in the ten years prior to this so that making it in the first place is even a possibility.

I want to set a template for this genre of racing game and hope that someone else comes along and does something even more with it. That's it

RoleRacingGames said:
Undertale, Diablo 3 and Kingdoms of Amalur all fit into the casual RPG category.

I see our definition of ‘casual’ differs, which is normal across people. But i still think you have conflicting interests eventually. Here is an example:
Personally i have no interest in cars and related technology. But i've played Trackmania for thousands of hours over years, because it's a very casual game. It's simple enough i could play it with my wife in splitscreen while talking about the day, and having some fun along. There is no progress system either, so you can just stop playing at any time. No need to deal with save games or anything.
Contrary, if the game had features like tuning / upgrading the cars, i would not have played it. But a friend who does like cars a lot would be more interested.

What i mean is that you have to make a choice on who is your target audience, and serve them specifically. This seems more niche and less mainstream, but it can give you a better base of players. They pick your game over others because you serve their interests in detail and with care.
If you try to go mainstream, serving and attracting everybody with a streamlined RPG experience, then you compete with AAA developers with only little chance of success.

RoleRacingGames said:
I want to set a template for this genre of racing game and hope that someone else comes along and does something even more with it. That's it

It sounds you work on a design document for a long time, making it perfect on paper, and then hoping somebody will join or fund you, because the design is good?

Won't work, because this puts you in the role of the ‘idea guy’. Nobody will take you serious, because ideas are nothing worth. Everybody has ideas. You need more to convince people, to distinct yourself from all those countless idea guys dreaming about big games.
You should work on a prototype instead just design documents. It's much easier nowadays, because there are game free engines ready to use. This saves you decades of learning and work, but it also means there is no more excuse of not working on a game yourself. After that you have some experience on development and can contribute more than just ideas. If you can show a working prototype good enough to show your game is fun, it's easier to get people on board.

That's just my opinion, but if you seriously want to make a game, there is no way around doing it for real. Design alone does not make a game. And without a game, design is not even enough to describe such hypothetical game.

JoeJ said:

RoleRacingGames said:
Undertale, Diablo 3 and Kingdoms of Amalur all fit into the casual RPG category.

I see our definition of ‘casual’ differs, which is normal across people. But i still think you have conflicting interests eventually. Here is an example:
Personally i have no interest in cars and related technology. But i've played Trackmania for thousands of hours over years, because it's a very casual game. It's simple enough i could play it with my wife in splitscreen while talking about the day, and having some fun along. There is no progress system either, so you can just stop playing at any time. No need to deal with save games or anything.
Contrary, if the game had features like tuning / upgrading the cars, i would not have played it. But a friend who does like cars a lot would be more interested.

What i mean is that you have to make a choice on who is your target audience, and serve them specifically. This seems more niche and less mainstream, but it can give you a better base of players. They pick your game over others because you serve their interests in detail and with care.
If you try to go mainstream, serving and attracting everybody with a streamlined RPG experience, then you compete with AAA developers with only little chance of success.

RoleRacingGames said:
I want to set a template for this genre of racing game and hope that someone else comes along and does something even more with it. That's it

It sounds you work on a design document for a long time, making it perfect on paper, and then hoping somebody will join or fund you, because the design is good?

Won't work, because this puts you in the role of the ‘idea guy’. Nobody will take you serious, because ideas are nothing worth. Everybody has ideas. You need more to convince people, to distinct yourself from all those countless idea guys dreaming about big games.
You should work on a prototype instead just design documents. It's much easier nowadays, because there are game free engines ready to use. This saves you decades of learning and work, but it also means there is no more excuse of not working on a game yourself. After that you have some experience on development and can contribute more than just ideas. If you can show a working prototype good enough to show your game is fun, it's easier to get people on board.

That's just my opinion, but if you seriously want to make a game, there is no way around doing it for real. Design alone does not make a game. And without a game, design is not even enough to describe such hypothetical game.

Okay, you could very easily go through a game like, IDK, Forza Horizon 4 not upgrading your car and just buying a faster one in order to progress

Also you've totally misunderstood what I meant by “setting a template”, this in reference to what my intentions are for making the game, not “I'm hoping someone will join me if my ideas are big brained enough”, and like I said, I don't plan on doing this seriously for years, this post is specifically about world building and story. In any event, what engines do you suggest for a racing game with the elements I described?