|
9. The Dark Tower
The license: This epic, seven-part Stephen King book series follows Roland, the last gunslinger, as he navigates a society that mirrors the American old west, but with hints of advanced technology and magic.
Roland seeks out the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be at the intersection of all universes.
His journey takes him through a dizzying array of parallel worlds and time periods, facing all manners of creatures and enemies with a ragtag group of followers.
The game: Straight action is the name of the game here. A Dark Tower game should follow the plot of the books and emphasize the thrilling fights with all manners of weird creatures that the gunslinger and company get into.
A multiplayer option is a must, as is the ability for solo players to take control of any of the myriad members of the gunslinger's ever-changing crew.
 Certain elements of the books, like The Waste Lands' riddle contest and Wolves of the Calla's strange subplot involving the protection of a single rose, lend themselves to monotony-breaking mini-games, while the overall story can be condensed into short cut scenes.
While the plot of all seven books would likely create a game too long for even hardcore fans, an episodic release schedule could break the whole thing down into manageable, bite-sized chunks.
The developer: Midway showed a penchant for hack-and-slash fantasy with its 3D Gauntlet remakes -- this game would give the opportunity to put a similar engine to something with a more substantial story and characters behind it, perhaps using Midway Chicago or Surreal Software.
|
Printer-Friendly Version
On the other hand, I don't agree with any of this list's references to "reality TV" productions. And could you really make Shaun of the Dead without getting sued? Capcom's already having enough problems with George Romero as it is....
Big Lebowski Bowling - would have to be a killer bowling sim, but the charachters and teams are pretty much laid out in the film. Would have to liscense Gypsy King's version of Hotel California for the theme music.
Hellraiser- survival horror with puzzle boxes and intricate ways to cause pain.
Auto-Duel- an update to the Steve Jackson pencil and paper game and to the C64 port. Half RPG, half Twisted Metal where you could drive city to city and compete with people online in the arena after battling them on the road like Road Rage.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre- an update to the Atari2600 game where you play as Leatherface. TCM lends itself to more structure than other slasher films as Leatherface's family has control of his actions making it easier for a designer to structure.
Gonzo:The Game- You play as Hunter S. Thompson, you are given assignments and your goal is to warp your view of reality in the most extreme way you can while still making deadlines and meeting expense budgets.
Another good series would be the Chronicles of the Shadow War by Chris Claremont and George Lucas (based on his movie Willow). There are a lot of interesting characters and locations in these books that would make for a good action rpg type game.
something like Guild Wars PvP, where players could unlock weapons and items for their vehicles with earned experience
I was taking a racquetball class back when my friends and I were really into Virtua Tennis on Dreamcast. I thought it'd be awesome if Sega made a racquetball game -- so I could relive the thrill of the sport on my couch at home, of course. I tried thinking about how it'd work but it seemed like a difficult game to translate because of the ability to play off of the ceiling and back wall.
Later I discovered that Sega released Cosmic Smash for Dreamcast in Japan, which seemed pretty damned close to a racquetball game. But played more like a one of the Virtua Tennis challenges with visuals like Rez.
As bootleg as it may be, I'm interested in checking out Street Racquetball to see how they executed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dZND99l6LM&feature=related
Speaking of Alan Moore comics, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would make a pretty awesome team battle game like X-men Legends or something.
I agree with Rose Aloseth regarding the Discworld series. The series is just waiting for a great walk around adventure game and imagine if it'll look like 'Curse of Monkey Island!' it'll be heaps of fun!
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/out-of-this-world
Flashback: The Quest for Identity
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/flashback-the-quest-for-identity
BlackThorne
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/blackthorne
The Lost Vikings
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/lost-vikings
Cybernator
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/cybernator
Metal Warriors
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/metal-warriors
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/desert-strike-return-to-the-gulf
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/zombies-ate-my-neighbors
The games speaks for themselves.
@Ribas...Out of this World and Flashback. Great choices
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringeworthy
The second of my list's Underutilized Licenses is Brave Soul, a an unusual combination of the role-playing game and dating sim genres.
An updated and Yuri edition of Bave Soul, a game that never made it past the talking stage, would something I would love to see developed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_Soul
The third and last franchise in my list of Underutilized Licenses is Tékumel, a fantasy world created by Professor Muhammad Abd-el-Rahman Barker. This is a very cool world and one that could be linked with the Fringeworthy franchise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A9kumel
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081633/