Yesterday, Jesse and I were chatting about a Civil War game he picked up out of curiosity. We were speculating on what a Civil War FPS might be like*. Jesse figured a lot of bayoneting, and I figured a lot of gangrene.
“Oh!” I said suddenly, “what if there is an amputation mini-game with a hacksaw?”
IMMEDIATELY after the words fell from my fingers, I recoiled in horror. UGGGH!! Ew!! EW!
“Undo, UNDO!” I shouted, but alas, once an idea is birthed into the world, it cannot be forced back from whence it came. It is here to stay.
Even though I shuddered at my horrible idea, it kept coming back up in conversation, both then and again tonight.
At one point I even said, “I want someone to make a BVW World about it. NO I DON’T!”
But it wouldn’t leave my brain! Imagine the sound design on that. Bits of bone…..no..ew…EWW!! UGGH!! STOP IT.
Jesse laughed and said that there’s no word yet for those mysterious things which attract and repulse at the same time. And he’s right. Attempting to google it only brings up some science journal article titled “Independent functions of slit-robo repulsion and netrin-frazzled attraction regulate axon crossing at the midline in Drosophila.” Which, of course, is not helpful at all. Do scientists publish these things and then giggle behind our backs? Netrin-frazzled, indeed.
Anyway, my poor, horrible Civil War FPS amputation mini-game may as well get logged away on my great list of ideas. Perhaps writing it down will cast it away for good. And who knows, perhaps it will come in handy someday. Poor little idea. Uggh….*shudder*
*apparently it’s pretty terrible.
Already exists.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/335593
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/406657
Re: Already exists.
Unimpressed! These are, essentially, Trauma Center clones which have been vaguely themed. They aren’t even that violent. “Realistic human surgical procedures” indeed!
He didn’t even make an attempt to take advantage of the potential of sound design! I bet I could make a more squeamish game than this about amputating a leg with a bone saw and not even show the actual sawing.
To be fair, I never got the second version to load. Newgrounds and I have never been good friends.
Re: Already exists.
Oh man! CONSULTANT!!! I’m in!
Re: Already exists.
HIRED!
Currently there is a HUGE discussion around violent games going on in Germany. Politicians don’t even want to wait for studies that show direct links between “seen virtual violence” and “wreaking havoc with guns at schools”.
That left aside i can agree with most criticism regarding the current STATE of the violent images you’re able to proke through gaming. Gore’y games have been there since Commodore and Doom but it’s really disgusting that the industry just focuses on “more realism, action and violence” instead of thinking things through. And since there’s one world war shooter coming after another people tend to quietly accept this.
But here comes your suggestion and i greatly appreciate it. I think you meant “amputation” in a “positive” way where you have to remove limbs of an ally to prevent him from dying, right? I think building that into a game and making war the main topic but in a NEGATIVE way would be a really fresh attempt. Hey, we have those cool grafics? Why not show screaming people with half of their body torn apart from a grenade? Where are the hungry masses in shooters? Why are innocent citizens usually left out?
Think of half life here: They brought in civilians, rebellion but also violence. The game was praised for its ideas and stories but still was a normal shooter. Why can’t others be as original with world war topics?
So in short: I don’t condemn shooters – damn i even like to play em regularly. But i don’t like how most of them glorify war and leave out other aspects, so i don’t play any COD or MOH, no matter how good it may be gameplay-wise.
Oh forgot to add the tendencies in Germany: Politicians want to completely forbid violent videogames and have them put in the same category as children pornography – including the same money and freedom penalties if you offer such things to people.
Regarding the positive aspect of amputation, that was one thing that fascinates me about it! Normally gore and violence are a way of giving the player feedback on how much damage they’re doing, but if you’re a doctor and have to amputate to save someone, how would that change the way the player relates to the violence?
The exploration potential makes me very curious!
I learned a lot about Germany’s crazy restrictions on violent video games this summer when I was working on Resistance. Insomniac has a really thorough localization department.
Do you think there’s any opposition to the crazy politicians being formed? Maybe you should start a movement 🙂