Ideas

You REALLY need to have customizable scarves and mitts. Maybe even touques. :)

Snow is fun.
Virtual snow is fun.
Sold.

Simple, compelling and not horrible! :-) +1

Secret Weapon: Yellow Snowball!!

Sounds like an interesting and fun take on a fps.

It would have to be multiplayer so that you could play friends. Maybe you could earn credits for better mittens (power up ) or better snow jacket (armour). And if you sneak up on a friend you can get a "silent kill" like a face wash.

Of course it might only appeal to people who get snow.

I thought Kool to be appropiate for a snowball fps -).
It's a nice twist to a FPS and certainly has potential !

I would prefer commerical game engines as well ( The ones that you propose are quit good, especially Unity3D ) but it would limit seriously the assistance of the crowd for licensing reasons.

Therefore, you might consider a good open source alternative like Irrlicht which is dedicated FPS. I tried Panda where you can prototype very quickly and is supported by Disney studios ( done in python ). Question if graphics, Ogre is superior but is not a full blown game engine, might limit the "rapid prototyping".

Have a look at http://www.devmaster.net/engines/ .

I think it's a neat idea. I love the idea of enjoying a FPS game without all the violence too. I saw paintball once, but that's the closest I've seen. I would enjoy this because it's something I wouldn't be afraid to play with my son.

... as long as you can build snowmen defence bots i'm in!!

Imhotep: good point about the commercial engines. However, they all have a 30 day trial, so it costs nothing to get started. And most of them are less than $100 to purchase (certainly the 3 I mentioned are).

I think having a commercial engine can make certain things a lot easier too - commerical companies are liable to help you with things like distribution and promotion of your game, especially if its novel.

Your point is a good one though - I guess if this project got made, the product team would have to make that choice.

Hi Aidan,

fully agree but my point was that a commerical engine would limit the crowd to join development as every developer needs a license. If you go for an indie version of 100$, it can still be solved : n developers * 100$, but if the price goes higher, licensing would limit the ability of the crowd to source on ...

A good idea is to read through the comments on the game engines from the link I forwarded.

Anyhow, don't need to bother about this yet. First get this idea voted to the top -)

This is right on the money...family friendly and perfect for Xmas if it can be developed in time.

I definitely will help to make it happen...great idea and I love the inspiration of something that you can do with your kids.

I can already feel the cold through my hands as I begin building up my armory for the next onslaught. WTG Aidan.

I HAVE ALL READY MADE A GAME LIKE THIS YEARS AGO.
I have all ready thought of this idea a long time ago, and have coded a simple version of this by myself in 3d.

After a few tests, of my beta copy I have found it to be very hard to control collision events, particle effects and control the physics of the game. To make it look real to life. Right now, it is very simple, grab snowball, toss, walk, run, jump, and move around in the simple world with trees, and a few buildings/ The game features hilltops, and player targets.

I will send you a copy if I ever finish the game to the point it is truly ready to play. There are all ready games in 2d formats. But still, the concept is lackluster. The same conclusion I have came to when actualy making a 3d version.

Also, even if you can get the game concept to work.
Snow, requires particle systems, and very small particles. It is just not practical, to make a complex system for such a game.

It would need to have advanced collision checking, and a physics used for the snow. If you wanted to have true action with it like you were talking about. In my simple version of the game I have found snow hard to deal with, almost as much if not harder to deal with then water. If any of you have every did anything in programming or 3d work you would know why.

My system the player has a key press and ducks down dose a hand movement and gets a snow ball in the inventory.

For throughing the snoball, I have used some of the same physics of baceball and golf to have a semi-real look to the action of the real thing. this dose not take into account of very much physics that you would find in the real world. But, looks ok.

The hit action if the snoball hits something is very simple.

Anyways, it seems like an easy thing to do but, it is not. Also, I am sure I am not the only one out there that has ever coded a game like this, and then quit because of the lack of concept to the entire thing.

Making games always seem easy, ever one thinks they are easy to make. To bad in the real world it is just not that easy.

It's a nice idea and I'm voting for it. I think, world-wide, there is enough of a market to make this profitable and I think the game would get some press mileage from the fact that it is one of the few non-violent FPS games.
My only concern right now (and don't let it take away from this specific idea) is that it seems CH's portfolio of projects is becoming more game-oriented with a leaning towards sites that are high in "cool" factor. I'd like to see us tackle some strong "business-oriented" projects. I'll think about starting a thread in one of the community forums.

Kevin_Cox: I'd happily look at the code you've written, Kevin, at any point. To go a little into technical detail, my thought wasn't to have individual particles of snow and to have an engine look after them all.

I think there would be snow like effects in the foreground (i.e. at times it could look like it is snowing).

There would be a splat when someone got hit, but the particles would hit the ground/person and then fade away.

I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I've talked to a few people who are and they seem to feel its very doable.

I think that the marketing is the key part.

Malcolm: This idea isn't in CH's portfolio - it's just my idea :-)

Also, if you look at the current IdeaWarz tournament, none of the top 4 ideas are game ideas.

The reason that games are popular is because they are mass market. Computer gamers use the internet at arguably a 100% ratio. The same can't be said of gardeners, moms or any other demographic.

Love it, I'm not much of an FPS player, but I also think it could be great for a RTS game. With snow-tanks and snow-catapults and ice rivers to cross. Perhaps a team can have anti-freeze as a special weapon.

Check out this Flash based 3d engine: http://www.rasterwer...e/phosphor/beta1.htm

Such an engine would open the game up to a much wider audience as no downloads would be required.

Not being negative though, but this was already done with the Soutthpark game to some degree. This sounds a bit diff though :)

I don't post my source code for my projects or share source code with anyone before I get Non-Disclosure agreements, that and you would need to have the same code compiler for you to be able to actually do anything really etc...

I will be happy to send you a free copy if the game is ever finished, and published. Like I said it is not a entire working copy, just my dip to see if it could. A model used to see what can, and can't be done.

I never seen much interest in it, and the idea is very basic.

Like I said before, it can be done. Just it is not going to be done at the level you are talking about.

I did not see the point for the investment required.

"Love it, I'm not much of an FPS player, but I also think it could be great for a RTS game. With snow-tanks and snow-catapults and ice rivers to cross. Perhaps a team can have anti-freeze as a special weapon."
That kind of takes away the point of not having blood and gore after you add things like tanks and guns. That would be a FPS in a snow environment. Also, YES that has been done! Don't bother posting an idea for it, just there was no "snow-catapults" in the game.

Any ways, back on topic.

The game ends up like a FPS any ways for the most part, just toned down. YES you could and I did make a version with simple sprite overlays, and block 3D for the most part with simple actions.

I do feel it is doable, not arguing with you at all. I have even don't part of the work. Just the point is is it worth the time to do it. So, far most programmers don't even bother to go past 2d work for games like this, due to the costs and time.

Doing things takes time, programming takes up a lot of time and is done on the investments of what will work, and the expected income.

Every one thinks that making games is just an idea and that will sell by it self. Well every one has a great idea, companies don't pay people for this ideas. They pay for after they have the example, or the finished product. Because there are risks involved.

This idea is not going to make that much, has been done in other 2d forms, and dose not have a high need to make a 3d game of it.

I will be happy to send you a copy AFTER it is done, I do not offer my source code to anyone sorry. Don't get you hopes up to much for completion of this game after all this was just a test program from the start.

add some features like sliding down hills, and how deep the snow is so that you could bury yourself in the snow if you wanted, this could also open up the factor of body type, giving more customization to characters, larger-bodied characters would get more distance natrually but are harder to hide, and smaller characters are weaker so can't throw as far but hide quite well. This would be a great thing to have for modes like team "Death" match type gameplay or prehapse a fort take over game w here each side has a fort that they have then tthey add on to it. The first side to lose their fort to the other loses. Anyways, before I get carried away I think i'll wrap this up. Farewell, and Merry Christmas to everyone, furthermore. hi, I'm the new guy and it's very nice to meet you. :D

^