Games in "Modern" times

[momonari_junta]

Trumpeter":r1fqxqxb]
Try this Momo, it might bring a smile to your face.

It's an extremely old RMXP ditty called "Vendetta: Trash Dynamite", set in modern times.

Episode 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WA8VC4SE

And a Trailer about it made for a contest: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y6YVYO9A

I always thought of it as a sweet little modern RPG. I think it successfully "breaks the player's bond with reality", while at the same time, the player is able to relate to the characters and the situation. It even had an amount of original graphics.

The project is no longer in development but you might find amusement from it.

EDIT:

Tai: But I really want an exceptional game that i can see happenning in my own life. I'm just waiting for someone to make Corporate Boardroom Politics: The RPG and just sweep me right off my feet with it.

Well the game isn't probably exceptional, but "Corporate Boardroom Politics" plays quite a role (it was meant to play a big role actually) in the game I posted, so it might be of interest to you too.

I'm going to play this right now. Thanks Trumpeter!

 

[mawk]

I don't think that many people can pull off this is our world right now modern scenarios, because our world right now is pretty damn boring on a large scale.

Yeah, man insurrections, wars, political upheaval, racial cleansing, life on the street, survival in the wilderness, exploring ancient civilizations, and dangerous expeditions are trite and boring!

I was thinking more of life as we ourselves experience it (see: dull as hell,) but I honestly hadn't done any thought on a broader scale. I guess that's the sort of Miek-post you get when I've just woken up. :x

 

[mega_man_aXe]

Honestly I don't care what time setting the game is in, as long as all the aspects of the game fall through.  You know, music, characters, story, etc.  Modern time games can be real cool though, pixel skyscrapers are something I can't pass up.

I'm making a game right now in modern times.  Not OUR modern times, just some made up world with its own problems. Pink treasure chests and zany adventures await thee.  >

 

[Marcus]

I don't think that many people can pull off this is our world right now modern scenarios, because our world right now is pretty damn boring on a large scale.

Yeah, man insurrections, wars, political upheaval, racial cleansing, life on the street, survival in the wilderness, exploring ancient civilizations, and dangerous expeditions are trite and boring!

I was thinking more of life as we ourselves experience it (see: dull as hell,) but I honestly hadn't done any thought on a broader scale. I guess that's the sort of Miek-post you get when I've just woken up. :x

Yeah but when you think about it, the average person's life is pretty dull no matter what timeframe.  Most of the people in the fantasy/medieval universes are potato farmers and mud rakers and have probably never even owned let alone touched a sword..  I'm sure a good writer can make an interesting story out of that but most people focus on the heroic actioney side of things for a particular reason.

If you want to get authentic medieval, no one owned a sword unless they were either rich enough to afford it.  Swords were weapons for the privileged and most warriors were equipped with a simple weapon like a mace (which was practically a crude wooden shaft with a cast iron head) or polearms like spears which were basically really long sticks with crudely fashioned spear heads.  If called to arms, the average farmer would bring his pitchfork or sickle/wheat thresher.

 

[mega_man_aXe]

Whilst our modern lives may be dull, and the medieval commoner's lives may have been dull, thats why we create these games of fantasy, to experience something we honestly will probably never experience.  I'm not really a fan of simulations or games about working at McDonald's and saving up money, but throw an interesting twist in there like the hamburgers are coming to life and killing people, then it becomes interesting!

(or Killer Tomatoes From Outer Space)

 

[GrooveMan.exe]

Trumpeter":4j2ndofu]
Try this Momo, it might bring a smile to your face.

It's an extremely old RMXP ditty called "Vendetta: Trash Dynamite", set in modern times.

Episode 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WA8VC4SE

And a Trailer about it made for a contest: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y6YVYO9A

I always thought of it as a sweet little modern RPG. I think it successfully "breaks the player's bond with reality", while at the same time, the player is able to relate to the characters and the situation. It even had an amount of original graphics.

The project is no longer in development but you might find amusement from it.

EDIT:

Tai: But I really want an exceptional game that i can see happenning in my own life. I'm just waiting for someone to make Corporate Boardroom Politics: The RPG and just sweep me right off my feet with it.

Well the game isn't probably exceptional, but "Corporate Boardroom Politics" plays quite a role (it was meant to play a big role actually) in the game I posted, so it might be of interest to you too.

That game has some rather annoying difficulty curve issues, and the dialogue is well, boring While I can understand that the writer wanted to have the philosophical references and such, it just felt forced coming from a loli with pink hair; not to mention it dragged on and on and ooooon. Then when you get around to actually fighting guys, the starting foes kick your ass mad-hard. :V

That said, it did generate some intetesting ideas about how to do cutscenes and settings.

 

[[LS]Trumpeter]

Heee... To each his own.  :wink:

 

[GrooveMan.exe]

Indeed. =) But 3 minutes in is a bit *too* early for philosophical ranting. It also puts it at odds with the little girl/doll that swore like a sailor...

 

[[LS]Trumpeter]

I thought it was good juxtaposition. Here you've got an accomplished CEO giving a lecture about capitalism, nanotechnology and ideologies and then a vulgar blonde little doll shuts him up and completely slaughters him. And then you get intense action after that. It's a sweet little calm before the storm. The protagonist wakes up for a second time and the **** starts to hit the fan. Might not be mainstream, but that's just how I prefer my games I guess.

 

[GrooveMan.exe]

Mainstream has nothing to do with it. :/

I just found it jarring, and out of place, really. I would have enjoyed it more if there was a bit of self realisation, and the text drifted literally into "blah blah blah", and then the swearing doll comes in to rectify the "blah". Then it would have been funny, instead of jarring. =D

 

[Twin Matrix]

I've always yearned for a modern setting RPG, where the feature is about the interactivity instead of the battle system and magic and dragons and dwarves and demons. A slice-of-life, really, that is easily relateable to everyday life situations. One like Japanese visual novels, except where you're in full control of your character instead of him/her following a set path that requires input only at plot forks.

That sounds awfully boring... But I'm just not a fan of games that remain slow-paced and boring throughout the whole game. ^^;

I am a fan of games that combine a modern setting with medieval elements, such as FFVII though. And not necessarily swords being used and such, but more a medieval-type story.

Edit: Actually, does FFVII even combine modern with medieval? I haven't played it, but I couldn't think of a more famous example. xP

 

[mawk]

Well, depends how you define what's modern and what's medieval. FFVII had a magic system, and people used a lot of medieval-era weapons, and the story revolved around saving the world, but those are just trademarks of the fantasy genre. The setting itself was pretty modern.

 

[tai]

That sounds awfully boring... But I'm just not a fan of games that remain slow-paced and boring throughout the whole game. ^^;

just because things are slow paced doesn't mean that they're boring. The Final Fantasy games are paced pretty slow, but they're comprehensive in every way possible which is what makes them so popular. And just because a game is slow paced doesn't mean that it can't have fast-paced story arcs (like the giant mechanical crab in FFVIII, my heart was pounding during that sequence.)

All FF games starting FFVII (and maybe earlier, the only earlier ones i've played are II and I) combine modern with medieval, usually its medieval warfare (swords/spears/magic) but in a modern setting (trains, generators, reactors). That's your pretty typical RPG. I think its because there's a lot more 'coolness' in a character chopping an enemy with a sword then just shooting them with a SMG. There's never been a gun-wielding character I've especially liked.

 

[Clest]

There's never been a gun-wielding character I've especially liked.

That is because usually the game creators make gunners suck in battle and being far from the main spot. But specially in nom animated battle system, I find gunshots more intense than sword slashes really, afterall, sword slashes (or any close combat move) has more appeal for the movements a character does, while gunshots get good effet with the blast per se.

In fact I liked Katsuya in Persona 2 and he used a pretty ordinary automatic pistol, and was way cooler than his brother stiff katana fighting style :P

As for modern: I personally don´t like run down settings (be it in any age, so I hate slums and dirty streets as much as I hate mad max like future settings). Also I tend to like fantasy and sci elements in any setting, so the only modern stuff I like is similar to Persona 2, where you got magic and some high tech stuff mixed in.

In fact that makes for a cool combination and distortion of how our world is and what it could be with such elements.

 

[Diaforetikos]

I was thinking about making an RPG that was set in the modern time. I took a bit of CIA, meets gangs, meets assassins, meets a very tiny bit of politics, meets a little bit of the law(police). I tried to also give it a sci-fi feel that felt fantasy. I don't have the story anywhere close to ready, but I would love to post it. I don't know where though since the story isnt done or completely thought out.

Modern can be good if its done right. Its rare to see a good modern RPG. Thats why fantasy seems to be so easy to pull off and appealing to most people here, besides the fact that there aren't enough modern resources. You can do anything in fantasy. Its limitless, while modern does have slight limitations. But like I said, it could be good if done right.

I'm not too big on fantasy. Its played out for me. Just the dialog alone bores me. But thats just me. I can't stand names that people pulled out of the corners of there minds and said its hard to pronounce, lets put it in. Magic and wizards and such don't have the same appeal as they use to. And medieval times weren't that cool to me either. Kingdoms of the medieval times are portrayed very differently in RPGs than they are in reality. Very dirty, slummy and nasty. This is all my opinion.

 

[Zadeon]

I'm currently making a game set in a modern/futuristic era. Despite having the storyline, characters, and locales all set, this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I started making this game back in early 2006, and I've given up several times (and come back though :P) because I've been so frustrated. Frustrated with the sheer lack of resources available to make a game like mine, and to make it right.
Sometimes I've had to revert to mixing graphical styles (RTP with Futuristic), and you can demo my game to see for yourself how that one's worked out.
But I think that in any one game with a variety of locales, you have to mix graphical styles to some degree, unless you have a designated mapper that does all the mapping for your game.

 

[RAWKnight]

Marcus has made some good points most games that people say are "Medieval" isn't set in that time peroid at all. Many gamers write games off as Medieval when they just happen to have a King in charge of a land. The thing is in many of those many games I would run into a Eastern Ninja which does not fit into at all with a Medieval setting. The fact is I've never played a true Medieval game where plaques are running wild, Barbarians burning down villages making castles the prime choice to protect a town, or with a heavy Fuedal system.

I don't care if the Main hero is just a sword wielding maniac who is seen as a saint by all around him as he chases down the magic wizard of magic. The strength of the story, and writing will always be powerful in Role Playing games. A good storyline presented right often is a difference between a good or a bad game. In my mind it is a story then a gameplay, but that's just what I prefer.

The fact is at the core of it every game ever made will have fantasy elements and at the same time will be inspired some event in history.

 

[Sol_Fury]

I've got a project set in more or less modern times on the backburner as a sanity break from my fantasy story, but it's not exactly "our world, now". Too many big robots for that.

My fantasy story does take a few cues from modern and sci-fi games, though. Although it's not fully touched on in game, yet, there is a whole science I threw together to try to explain how magic works (a form of radioactive particle infusing everything that some people are "active" to). There's also a fair bit of "boardroom backstabbing" after a fashion with the imperial senate.
My point is, just as modern settings can use elements of fantasy, so too can fantasy games take a few cues from modern times.

In fact, you could take the cop-out route of a modern RPG story and set it all in a bunch of ruins starring some archaeologists, or set it in a reserve where people have sworn off technology and have decided to live according to "the old ways". Limitations of resources /= limitations to the setting, with some imagination.

 

[Ocean]

No resources? Sure, just get some from RM2K/3 chipsets, refmap or theo should work, and just doublescale them. Or yeah, just make your own. You don't need to plan your game to be 60+ hours long, it could be just one town or whatever.

I like a bright and happy modern setting. There is actually a lot I can think of doing with it, I find myself less limited than I do if I'm doing a past fantasy type of thing. I actually would find it neat to have a pretty realistic Medieval setting, but no one really does that. Otherwise, I like things like tall skyscrapers, gondolas, interesting building designs (Like Gaudi's work in Barcelona), and all that stuff. I do like some fantasy mixed in, so I'd probably put things like Candy cane and Lollipops coming out of the ground, knowing me.

I actually wouldn't mind a slight futuristic thing, assuming it's not a dark post-apocalyptic thing. Again, bright and happy too. I don't like browns and greys, nor dark/sad serious stories or political stories. I like happy and funny ones. I do limit how "realistic" I make the game, because I'm not going to go as far as having a stamina system, hunger system or whatever. I'd rather them run as much as they'd like.

I'd so love to design a city like this:
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/7558/3rn2ng6.jpg

I'm not a Mech fan though, so that's why I've generally been avoiding future settings. Also, I find it easier to just take from my experiences and plop them into the game. One thing I do have to think about is if I have something work like "Magic" for the games battle system, how to explain it. Because I certainly don't want everyone to actually be magical or whatever. I'd probably go for things like Water balloons and stuff.

If I want the characters to for some reason go into a medieval style world for a bit, I could either send them on vacation to some ruins or an old style village, or have them go to a library and get absorbed (pretty literally) into a book. I personally find a modern setting to be quite flexible for me. I'm sure that the setting isn't going to be for everyones tastes, especially those that are like "I must have a serious epic story", but I like working in it.

 

[GrooveMan.exe]

I... I think I've just found my game design soulmate in Ocean. <3

I totally feel the same way about modern settings. Right down to "I don't like browns and greys, nor dark/sad serious stories or political stories. I like happy and funny ones."