Reinventing the Video Game

I like video games. I've played many great ones. But there are some problems that get in the way of the reality of the game. I'm talking specifically about games like Grand Theft Auto, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted, Call of Duty, etc. What I mean is mission-based, action games, open-world or not, 1st or 3rd person.

Problems With Games

1. The character you are playing with dies. And then is immediately brought back to life. 

2. You fail a mission. And then you get to try again as if it never happened. (Especially problematic when it's a stealth mission, or you're trying to save a hostage who dies, etc.)

Reasons For These Problems

1. Character development. In order to feel attached to the game/story, we need to feel attached to the characters, which means playing with them for the whole of the game, even after they die.

2. Games are designed with missions. To beat the game, you have to beat the missions. Which means replaying them until you do. 

Solutions For The Problems (not the reasons)

1. If a character dies, he's dead. 

2. Everything that happens, happens. There's no re-dos. If you fuck up a stealth operation, there's not going to be a second chance. You'll have to find a different way in. Or attack in some other way as a diversion to enable a second stealth opportunity. 

So How Does This Work 

And what kind of game could this create? Well, I'm going to use the Grand Theft Auto franchise as a model for this thought exercise. 

First up, you'll always need to be able to play as a character. So we need an unlimited number of playable characters. One disadvantage will be that you won't be able to offer an unlimited number of recorded voice options. (But you might be able to record a few voice options, and then use random voice effects to create a seemingly near infinite number of options). 

In the Grand Theft Auto world, I could see a non-playable character in charge of a crew. An aging Don who controls the puppet strings. The crew could consist of four slots, for example. And the characters that you play with could level up, and players could grow more attached to them. If one of them dies, the player could recruit street-level thugs to replace their slot in the crew. 

One exciting possibility would be the opportunity for the player to consider who lives and dies on their own crew. If a new recruit gets shot (but not fatally), you could decide for the other character to continue on with the operation and leave him for dead. But if one of your long-time characters gets a non-fatal wound, you could bail on the operation and drive him to a hospital. 

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As for the "if it happens, it happens" solution, I think it involves restructuring the entire game. In 2007, I wrote that missions are limiting and a better solution is objectives. 

You'll need lots of objectives. Big arching ones, that include smaller sub-objectives, and other medium and smaller objectives that are their own activity and provide their own rewards. 

Big ones could include wiping out a rival gang/family/business. To do that you might have to destroy offices across the city. If you go stealth on the first offices, you would face less opposition on the remaining ones then if you go in full-force. 

Instead of a final mission, I would probably design a final objective such as an assassination. It's up to you to prepare and figure out how to do it. And if you fuck up, your target will move. He's not going to stay in the same mansion and wait for you to try again. 

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There's a lot more that I haven't thought through, but I think this would be a good start.

Edit: It would also be not that hard logistically. You get a save slot for story mode and it's a mandatory autosave. Whatever happens, happens.

I could post this to reddit and see if anybody in the comments has ideas to add on.