What's your idea for a game you could or will never make but wish someone made if they had unlimited budget and time?

We all have that idea, the one we scribble in notebooks and say well come back to. The idea we never complete. What's yours, what is your idea for a game you'd make if you were some big exec and had Disney money and no oversight.

For me: Power stone 3, with a rock paper scissors-like balance. Create your own character, a story that is updated weekly, tournament brackets, rankings, new weapons added each month, balanced, extras, etc.

or

Fully interactive world sim in Shenmue, all characters are people in real life, they fulfill their roles cause they want to, and you can choose to be the hero and go through the storyline, the game updates, and plays on auto piolet like a racing sim that remembers your driving pattern.

or

A stealth game where all AI is real people. Get through unnoticed when AI is going bat crap insane looking for you.

Remake Shining Dragon, Eloquent Fist and Xross Impact using Estival Versus' engine.

these days i have no idea but when i was younger i always wanted some weird mess of a game that was a mix of the sims with RPG elements in a weird open world (gta or elder scrolls style) with great graphics and a ton of random side junk.

I used to think I had niche taste in games but it looks like hard turn based strategy game are making a come back so I always had an idea of a turn based game about Alexander the Great's Conquest of the known world but instead of horses and chariots his entire Army will ride on a single massive open air train and encounters can be actions on the spectrum between simple disembarking for peaceful interactions or you can slam the train through a bandit blockade and shoot at enemies with bullets made of glassed sand. The game's visuals and art style will be designed in a way that clothing and objects could be sourced from any point in history.

That or a simple survival, crafting simulation game where you control a sandcrawler and give orders to a group of small characters that are not Jawas to take apart ships and objects in the desert to make parts for the sandcrawler or sell to other travelers. There are already a couple games that are like this. One is a mobile game called Sandship that has factorio building mechanics and another game made by Arc Systems called "Of Mice and Sand". Both are pretty interesting but I would like the game to have Dwarf Fortress/Rimworld style gameplay. I think given enough time someone will make it.

@topcyclist: right! it would be a mess even if someone did try to tackle it i'm sure but oh what a glorious mess it would possibly be lol. ... honestly most of the ideas in this thread sound interesting so far ^^

Jagged Alliance, with XCOM's nod to simpler combat but JA's character interactions and a roster of ever-increasing mercenaries and new scenarios. The scenarios, ideally, would be written by thriller, military, and espionage writers.

It's a territorial MMO with player-based economy where player progression is inherently tied to taking part in building city communities.

Basically, every player has a "home" that can be anything from a small camp to a mansion, and the way they improve their character is by placing trinkets, decorations, workstations etc etc in their home. If you want to be the baddest berzerker around you need somewhere to show off that dragons head you collected, if you want to be the best Wizard you need a big library with a scrying pool and magical conduit and if you want to be a master smith you need a massive forge and workbench and toolrack.

Now the second layer of the game is that players can choose to become city managers, council members, overseers etc (again requiring specific home improvements). These people have the ability to hire NPCs to perform tasks, like chopping lumber in the nearby forest or scouting around for dangers or guarding the city walls. The higher the level of your council/mayor/dictator the bigger area of influence they control. They can also collect taxes from anyone with a home in their area, and send tax collectors/guards to lock people out of their homes, if they refuse to pay.

Thirdly, the world dynamically spawns events like elves invading the forest, or a cave entrance suddenly becoming accessible, or trolls set up camp in the nearby mountains. These will basically serve as "quests" for the inhabitants of the city, and once resolved will lead to wealth and prosperity for the city (again requiring NPCs to go work the site afterwards).

Ofc, no city will ever be able to control an area large enough to get everything they need, so they will need to trade/fight/ally with other cities to diversify their wares. Which means there are also possibilities for player roles like generals, merchants or diplomats.

It is NOT a survival game where you go out and chop 20 wood and collect 50 stone to make a house. Most of the gathering and crafting is done by NPCs for NPCs, while players mostly will make specialized items where specialized parts/materials, player proficiency and choice ends up designing the properties of the items.

It's an amalgamation of all the games I love with appeal to many different kinds of players.

@ares42: Love this idea. Well thought out and I would play the hekl out of it.

I want a game where you play as an evil corporation. You start out as a tiny tech company in your Mom's garage and slowly grow, with the ultimate goal of becoming a shadow government for the whole world and ruling in perpetuity in an oppressive dystopia.

@ares42 I would play this. I like the idea of MMOs but I'm not into grinding or min-maxing characters so I like the idea of a world more based around community. I had a similar idea, but with a game more focused on developing technology as a community (while competing for resources) - starting the game in the Stone Age and growing organically into a futuristic setting as players uncover secrets over the course of a few years. It would be great if it didn't have known tech trees and such, with the ultimate limits of the technology completely unknown until they are reached.

I've always wanted Nintendo to somehow make a game called "Super Mario Plumbers," an RPG-ish prequel about Mario and Luigi running a failing plumbing business in Bensonhurst (Brooklyn) in the early 1980s.

I want a Kerbal Space Program type deal but for Polar expeditions.

Name of the Rose style detective game. You're a friar sent to solve a murder at a monastery in the mountains, where you will be entrenched for up to a year. Real time. You could solve it way sooner, but there would be zero hand-holding, so you will spend most days talking to witnesses, drawing objects/places/people of interest, confiding in/theorizing with your apprentice, and dealing with side-quests essentially, often from secret messages, and doing religious activities.

Yeah, something weird like that. Or Rock Band: ABBA.

Nice try EA, gotta do your own thinking!

I'd always think about a huge multiplayer Risk-esque game with multiple layers of gameplay where a fight can last for a month. Like you have commanders set out the grand strategy and where to allocate resources to, regional RTS players that use these resources to fight their regional battles, FPS players as soldiers, truckers to transport goods & units around. It doesn't sound a world away from something like EVE online now i think about it.

@brunothethird: Love this idea too.

I want Nintendo to make a Kingdom Hearts style game in the Nintendo Universe.

A modern version of Ultima Underworld or King's Field or something along those lines. Some kind of first person dungeon crawler RPG in a sort of dark fantasy world, where you're mostly or entirely isolated from anything resembling a society. Think "first person Dark Souls" in terms of structure and tone. Weirdly enough, something like Prey 2017 is close to what I want, except it's in a futuristic space station and not in some kind of dark fantasy-land.

We've had some games that come somewhat close, but not really there. Legend of Grimrock comes to mind, but it's attached to a grid and involves four people, not one, so it's more like Eye of the Beholder than what I'm after. Skyrim is absolutely loaded with dungeons and you can be as isolated from society as you want, but I've played Skyrim to death and also its dungeons are same-y and boring - and I'm not looking for an open world thing in the popular sense, more in the Metroid/Zelda/"open up more areas as you go along" sense.

I'm pretty sure something like this could find an audience - it's not that far off from Skyrim, the first person perspective hasn't stopped being popular since the 80's, and Dark Souls has proven that complex dark fantasy RPGs do, in fact, sell like crazy if you can market them and get a community going around them. But the closest thing to what I want is Underworld Ascendant and that was largely panned upon release. It has since been fixed up to be an "OK" game, but it's hardly good enough to escape all the poor reviews and bad word of mouth that it got at launch.

And The Bard's Tale IV is boring and I hated the music.

I'm just being picky, really, which is what this thread is asking for so I don't feel bad about that.

@sparky_buzzsaw: I would buy that in a second.

@brunothethird: The Abbey of Crime Extensum is free on steam. (Kind of a remake of an old ZX Spectrum/CPC game)

i've had an idea since i was a teen (im mid 30's) of an RPG style game that had a camera style like The Sims (kinda isometric world view in 3D) but character interactions would have lasting consequences (think Telltale style) in the story.

It would start out slow, just like workplace drama, things being tight at your apartment, stuff you own breaking and should you replace or leave it for now etc. until a certain point, in which the game would start to be the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse, so suddenly all the things in your apartment could now be retrofitted into barricades etc. so if you didn't replace that old CRT tv that broken, you now have a heavy item to block doors etc.

Basically, i loved this idea in the early 2000's, then the Zombie game boom happened, and now its like i i wanted to make it, it would be called derivative of The Walking Dead/State of Decay/Project Zomboid with "annoying QTE cutscenes" like Telltale games, that seem out of vogue atm.

@magnetphonics: Oh no way that is a great find, I'll definitely have fun digging into that, appreciate the recommendation.

My dream version would have a beautifully rendered monastery with day/night cycles and all that extra detail, but this will satisfy a lot of my wishes. Ooo, know what would be cool? If the friar's theories are visualized as a sequence of stained glass widow scenes.

Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport's new arcade-style racer spin-off.

So what I want for both is a futuristic setting with similar gameplay to DICE's Motorhead.

Most of my game ideas would be relatively reasonable would be relatively reasonable with my skills/budget. I just don't have the dedication.

One thing I wouldn't be able to do myself is a Playstation Home-style MMO with a focus on roleplaying. I know there are options out there for that, but I've never found one that suits me. Maybe I should try out GTA 5 RP, that seems close.

To tell you the truth, I think it's pretty crazy that no game has really come close to Red Faction: Guerilla's destruction mechanisms from 2011. A whole new generation came and went and the only attempt was Crackdown 3 online, which by all accounts didn't catch the feel of the game.

I want another open world building destruction games, but fully to the max. I want it in the modern world, in a major city (like Dubai perhaps?) where absolutely *everything* can be semi-realistically destroyed (or feels good when you destroy it) and the rest of the game is also fun, unlike with Red Faction. I would love it if it could be a blend of Red Faction and Just Cause (perhaps with a bit of Burnout thrown in with the speed and car destruction, and Battlefield 4 with the "Levolution", except they aren't events to be triggered and can happen organically). I don't even need there to be other humans or enemies. I just feel like the games industry completely dropped the ball in ignoring destruction mechanisms during the last generation, and the future doesn't seem good either. Next Car Game demo is the only thing which has really impressed me with their destruction mechanisms, and that's a demo from an indie studio which bears no real resemblance to the finished product.

F**k it. If we have unlimited resources we might as well throw in a blend between the Mercenaries Deck of 52 and the Middle Earth Nemesis system, where you have 52 main enemies you need to take down but they all have their strengths and weaknesses, and you need to capture them all without killing them (which would be... difficult due to the destruction you can sow).

If none of this is possible, I can make due with another Red Faction sequel which isn't Armageddon, and retains the heft and feel of the Guerilla collapse mechanics.

@nuttism: Otogi 1 and 2 on Xbox was heavy on destruction. Reminded me of a DBZ videogame cause your character flew in the air, fought in the air, hit people so hard they crashed through buildings, toppled the entire building, then you saw the rubble and building pieces stay on the ground. The large xbox harddrive then saved the data so you went back to the level and saw the destruction in place. Sadly no one really brought the game. It got good reviews. Just undersold due to it being about Japanese mythology. Never understood why companies overlook stuff like the nemesis system, loading screens with games to play, destruction that stays there, ragdoll physics (really only haters dislike playing with ragdolls in games like dark souls), inputting your own music while you drive in racers, multiplayer bots for when servers die even bad ones, more stealth games. Instead, they just say eh...more battle royal that market isn't flooded right. Guess it sounds good during investor calls. Why not another portal like game...no cant do that...split-gate sells like hotcakes...dooh

Oh boy, I have a lot of these.

With my next-to-nonexistent game dev skills, I think with unlimited time and money I could personally put together two dream games: a procedural 2D Hitman roguelike, and a 12 Minutes-style few-minutes-long immersive sim set in a dive bar where a nasty fight breaks out, with every single thing in the environment interactive and manipulable to some degree.

As an exec, I've got a laundry list:

• A story-heavy CRPG set in a limbo world that's an amalgam of different historical eras and predominantly populated with people that have gone missing, disappeared, or died in mysterious circumstances throughout history. Think Planescape Torment mashed up with Arthur C. Clark's A Time Odyssey, with Amelia Earhart and DB Cooper as party members. Maybe throw in some Lovecraftian mumbo jumbo to justify the existence of a magic system, and baby you got yourself a stew going. I've run some tabletop games based on this sort of premise and they've always been great fun.
• An historical open world game that tracks a Hatfield/McCoys-style feud between two families over the generations. It would all be set in the same general location, but the map and mechanics would change drastically as the generational shifts occur, from survival gameplay in an all-but-untamed wilderness to a modern urban setting with property management and organized crime mechanics, with significant differences in how the map evolves depending on the choices made during the story.
• An Elder Scrolls-style first person open world sandbox RPG with the immersive sim ethos of Divinity Original Sin 2 and the weather systems and environmental mechanics of Breath of the Wild. Basically, I want a game where I can complete a Dark Brotherhood contract by putting a conductive sword on a roof during a lightning storm in order to burn down a target's house and make it look like an accident.
• Arkane's take on Vampire the Masquerade, since VTM2 is never going to come out. They've done Thief, they've System Shock, it's the next logical step (actually Deus Ex is the next logical step but I'm a little cyberpunk'd out). I was really disappointed when I'd heard the rumors that Arkane was making a "vampire game" and then Redfall was announced and turned out to be a four player co-op thing.
• A Paradox grand strategy game focused on modern geopolitics or global organized crime (insert joke here about how it's the same thing).
• The as-yet unknown answer to my thought experiment: what would a game have to be doing from an AI, systems, or mechanical standpoint to release on a Playstation 5, max out the hardware while being well-optimized, but have the graphical fidelity of GTA: San Andreas?

The first thing that comes to mind is a game that successfully incorporates the everything-on-the-table scope of a TTRPG. I think D&D is the closest to being there, although whenever I play Baldur’s Gate 3 I see invisible walls in every moment and action. A Forged in the Dark or Powered by the Apocalypse system fully implemented would be something I spend all my time playing.

For existing IPs, there is one series I liked a lot that condensed itself in a disappointing way, and another that is never going to realize the full scope of its ambitions based on the time and money available. For the former, I want to see a remake of Xenosaga where the originally planned 6 games can be released. I suspect this means 1 and most of 2 would line up to the PS2 games, but the third game in that series would greatly interest me. For the second series, I have never played one of these games, but I’m rooting for them; Shenmue being able to fulfill its 9-part arc would be something wonderful for games.

I had plans on maybe making something similar to it in Dreams, but I never got Dreams so...

A Deadliest Catch game in the spirit of Overcooked where you race out to the fishing grounds, drop yer pots, hope for the best, reel them in, wash rinse repeat until you fill your quota of three seasons/rounds.

Time spent fishing and over/under quota...including dead crab from staying out too long factor into the overall score.

You'd have accidents, breakdowns, storms, and ice to deal with along the way as well as competing with others to find the hot spots and risking them getting in on your action by dropping pots in your vicinity.

When playing against someone online, they can't tell what you're hauling in and why you're heading back to harbor adding a guessing game element of how they should manage their operation and if they're wasting time.

Also...

- A simple Luchadore battle royale game that revolves around the Arkham series' combat where you flip and dodge and hurricanrana yourself around the other opponents until the ring is cleared.

- An adult themed version of Animal Crossing or The Sims where you fuck with your neighbors (and them with you). I don't know if something like that could be made in this day and age though, even if it was cutesy as where do you draw the line?

oh man- i've toyed with this hypothetical a few times throughout my life. i think most recently:

i've always wanted a space sim that was in the third person where you spend most of your time on a capital ship (think mass effect aboard the normandy in between missions). but the twist is you're being pursued by an overwhelming force (so not dissimilar from the reapers; though something more grounded and less hokey). i'd want to create a push/pull tension similar to they way mr. x or nemesis does in resident evil- something that is stalking you constantly, and at most you can hope to delay or slow down, but always need to flee from.

FTL kinda did this, and there's an episode of BSGwhere the crew basically is super cracked out on anxiety due to the cylons' unrelenting pursuit- i would want to create something with that tension, but then also have capital and fighter combat. maybe even boarding parties, who knows.

Mine is totally doable, I just don't know how to make games or have the time or dedication to learn. I downloaded Unity and have been dabbling with it for a bit, but I just know I will never be able to actually make what I want.

A coal mining management sim set in the Appalachian mountains where you are doing the bidding of an Ancient Evil that dwells below the mountain. You have to balance your earnings to not seem too profitable while at the same time have money to expand the mine and your railroad. The railroad would be how you expand your range for selling your coal and getting workers. You also need to build the railroad to create a gigantic occult symbol to fully awaken the powers of the Ancient Evil.
I made a small design doc for this when the idea came to me, and I really want to make it. But I know realistically that if I actually wanted to make it it would take years with the speed I would be able to work on it. And it would end up very bad, as I cannot code, draw or make music. Also would only be able to work a few hours on it every week.

Google Earth, but I can explore it with the controls of something like Crackdown. No enemies or anything, just third person tourism.

I have a lot that comes to mind, but my game wouldn't be something original with gameplay mechanics from other games like other people are commenting about, I would simply like Ubisoft to finish the XIII trilogy they were going to make before bad reviews and sells killed that idea.

A real life travel VR simulator would be awesome, where you can actually go to real life places in the comfort of your home and it look just as real as if you were really there, all the way down to detailed shops, eating places, even civilian homes. I got this idea by watching some Youtubers who make those kind of videos in the first person by walking around places in their country and record it live in 4K, like Virtual Japan.

What first comes to mind isn't exactly some original idea. I just want a Sim Isle 2, and it's kinda baffling to me that there are no other games out there like the original Sim Isle.

Kind of an indirect city builder in which you just manage the team that goes out there to handle construction, training/education and surveying, all running on top of a fairly complex ecology simulation.

Yeah, I'd be down for that. There is a rudimentary flight simulator baked into Google Maps (might be in Earth as well) but's not the pace I want to explore at.

@brunothethird: Read my mind. I'm currently reading Name of the Rose and constantly thinking about what a great adventure game it would make.

Someone should make Katamari Damacy: Earth. I'd describe it but you can probably already imagine what it is.

My favorite Assassins' Creed was Black Pearl an with all teh ship stuff and the more piratical missions. Sinbad woudl be a good base to build teh game upon. The story gives everything a framework, that fanatical and fable like setting allows teh game to have cool monsters, amazing adventures from East Africa all teh way to China, and the deep well of ideas from 1001 Arabian Nights to Ray Harryhausen stop motion movies

Not only would take be an interesting time period not often explored in games, but it another view of another culture. And, I would be MORE THAN WILLING to dump all the Assassin's Creed trapping over the side to just have it be a Piratical Black Pearl like game with Sinbad. In fact teh game should be like Black Pearl mixed with Mass Effect 2. So in the game you "grow you crew" by doing missions and having adventures.

An EverQuest sequel that captures all the magic and nostalgia of the original. Hopefully Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is just that.

That said, I backed Pantheon around 2015, with the promise I'd get access to the closed beta. Come 2021 and unfortunately they haven't yet made it out of the pre alpha phase.

The tragic death of Brad McQuaid in 2019 and then COVID in 2020 certainly haven't help the games production.

So if I was uber rich, and wanted to make my dream game a reality I'd throw my money at Visionary Realms to help them kick things into high gear.