What if Grand Theft Auto was.......

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-07-12 10:35pm

The ability to swim would be nice. To keep it realistic, you've only got a limited time out swimming before you get tired and drown.

How about Grand Theft Auto: Gangland, set in the 1920s in a pseudo-Chicago city? Jazz, bootleg liquor, and Tommy guns, oh yeah.

More cars on the street at the same time.

Real freeways, with limited access and lots of traffic at all hours.

I like the first person combat idea.

More buildings to enter and explore, not all of which are plot related. I especially like the idea of robbing banks.

A smarter police AI. If you're being shot at, the police will try to take down your assailant, and if you return fire, you won't get a wanted level if the cop saw the other guy fire first (it doesn't matter if he actually DID fire first, just that the cop saw him shoot first).

The ability to go legit and operate legal businesses, moreso than you could in Vice City.

A more realistic damage model for the cars, so it's possible to bend the frame in bad accidents. Instead of blowing up, badly damaged cars just stop running unless they take a hit to the gas tank. Damage has different effects depending on where it's taken, so you could have a car with a wrecked body but an intact drivetrain that still runs or one in nearly perfect condition except for the big rifle bullet hole in the engine block that killed it.

Optional manual shifting (set in the main menu) in some vehicles, including the ability to engine brake and blow up the engine if you downshift too far at speed. A speedometer and tachometer somewhere on screen would probably be necessary to make this work.

I like the idea of bicycles, especially if there are areas that can't be accessed easily any other way.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2003-07-13 12:17am

RedImperator wrote:Optional manual shifting (set in the main menu) in some vehicles, including the ability to engine brake and blow up the engine if you downshift too far at speed. A speedometer and tachometer somewhere on screen would probably be necessary to make this work.

Manual shifting? Are you completely crazy?!

Gawd, there'd be so many players who'd never make it out with a stolen car because they'll keep stalling the thing! Though that would be rather humorous to watch...

Anyway, I'd like better control of speed, instead of it being "pedal to the metal" all the damn time. So I'm not crashing into stuff and wrecking m car because I have to go top speed through crowded streets.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-07-13 01:14am

RogueIce wrote:
RedImperator wrote:Optional manual shifting (set in the main menu) in some vehicles, including the ability to engine brake and blow up the engine if you downshift too far at speed. A speedometer and tachometer somewhere on screen would probably be necessary to make this work.
Manual shifting? Are you completely crazy?!

Gawd, there'd be so many players who'd never make it out with a stolen car because they'll keep stalling the thing! Though that would be rather humorous to watch...

Anyway, I'd like better control of speed, instead of it being "pedal to the metal" all the damn time. So I'm not crashing into stuff and wrecking m car because I have to go top speed through crowded streets.

That's why I said it should be optional, controlled by a setting in the main menu, for the pussies who are afraid of a stick shift. For good drivers, a stick would give you a hell of a lot of control where you need it. Not every car would have a stick, but most of the performance cars would and so would the big trucks. And the ability to blow your engine up at random while flying down the street would be great fun.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-07-13 03:04am

I'd like to see it set in Sydney, ala Dirty Deeds. Set against the plot of the Americans wanting in.

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2003-07-13 03:39am

Nah, no manual shifting, unless you do it entirely by sound. You start adding in tachometers, and it starts looking too much like a racing game.

My additions:
Set in modern-day again, maybe even 10-20 years into the future (so you could steal, say, an experimental laser gun from an army base).

Bicycles, definitely. Hell, throw in skateboards and rollerblades, too.
The ability to clothesline people and use melee weapons while on motorbikes, bicycles, and skates would be damned cool, too (imagine wielding a katana while you're on the PCJ-600...).
More control on a motorbike. You're automatically ejected from the bike if you pull back too far or go too far forward in a jump, so you can't complete actual flips.

More wanted levels. If you somehow cause enough mayhem after you get 6 stars, a 7th star appears and you start getting hunted by someone who acts much like you do (steals cars, snipes, uses rocket launchers), whose only goal is to kill you and steal a bunch of money from you. Cops, FBI, and the Military a cake to get away from if you're in a car...but imagine that the next overpass you go approach, there's a guy with a rocket launcher waiting for you.
You go 8 stars, and you get a damned Special Forces team on your ass (the ultimate results being: you dead, items confiscated (weapons, money, cars, a couple properties), and your gang scattered.
Somehow get around that, and the actual Army comes to town (not the National Guard, like now). These aren't people who die in droves when you ram their trucks and who don't shoot their big guns at you. These guys cordon you off completely, put marksmen on rooftops, have Apaches in the air, and have M1A1s and .50 and TOW-equipped Humvees hunting for you, with shoot-on-sight orders. You die here, and it's like starting the game over.

Online play. This game fucking demands it. It'd even work as a MMO game. Almost any type of gameplay you can think of could be incorporated pretty well.

Mission builder. A map builder would be nice, but I think the map's integrated too much into the game to do this.

Semi-trucks with actual trailers.

Toggle for Cops who Care. This toggle will make cops actually enforce traffic laws. Merely driving like a maniac, without hurting anyone or causing damage, will result in a police chase. And these cops won't try to ram you off the road by defualt, either.
Anyone seen carrying a weapon is also chased (including gang members).

Destroyable airliners.

Axis Kast · Post by **Axis Kast** » 2003-07-13 11:11am

Realistically? Here are some of the things I expect.

I preferred Grand Theft Auto set sometime in the current day. The 80s-retro look of Vice City was nice, but nothing beats Liberty City at night. Skyscrapers and modern vehicles all the way.

Tuned cars. I want to see Hondas, Mitsubishis, and the like – in street-racing style with undercarriage lights and racing stripes. Players should be able to purchase new engines, wheels, or other accessories to improve the performance of specific cars at local chop shops or auto retailers much in the same way Tommy sprayed his car or purchases weapons.

Tractor-trailers. Linerunners are not so very useful; especially because they’re unjustifiably weak and already exceedingly slow. How about a low-rider carrying cars to the showroom. Hijacking such a vehicle would make a great mission.

More police vehicles and variety. I want to see both motorcycles (when you’re in a slow car or on foot) and police ranchers (which heavier armor but worse speed). I’d also like to see some diversity among police models and weaponry – as well as a special counter-force deployed alongside the Army.

Get rid of the Rhino and replace it with a respectable vehicle. Oh – and when you flatten cars, really flatten them. Also – avoid doors. Make it a turret. I hate getting pulled out a slow-moving tank from a hatch that shouldn’t be where it is. None of this explosion by contact crap. Change the appearance of the Barracks OL to give it tarp in the back. Real access to military Hummvees. Access to gun emplacements – i.e. .50 caliber weapons.

More access to buildings and “regular” businesses.

The ability to swim (within similar limits to Imperator’s).

More weapons. Various types of each “heavy” weapon.

Better music. The idea of importing “real” tunes was novel. Now try for something decent.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-07-13 11:38am

RedImperator wrote: How about Grand Theft Auto: Gangland, set in the 1920s in a pseudo-Chicago city? Jazz, bootleg liquor, and Tommy guns, oh yeah.

Haven't you ever heard of Mafia?

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2003-07-13 12:03pm

Darth Gojira wrote: SAVE the Earth!

Actually, the song is called "Take Back the Sun" when not horribly translated into english.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2003-07-13 12:14pm

Less sucky car physics would be nice. It just feels completely monged at the moment, they could at least include a speed limiter so you can drive without accelerating to about 100mph and hitting the nearest car/wall/building/whatever.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-07-13 02:43pm

If you're going to make cars customizable, then I think you'd have to make it more difficult to completely destroy a car (if I flipped and exploded a car after I sank $20,000 into it, the Playstation would be taking flight lessons immediately thereafter). Also, maybe there should be a tow truck service to haul a wrecked car back to the garage?

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-07-20 11:12am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Hidden Akira-style motorcycles.

Shouldn't we reserve this for GTA Tokyo??

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-07-20 01:55pm

Aside from the Obvious Mod Mod (Brit mobster theme), which has been done. THe Austrialian Post apaclyptic level of GTA....

Which allows you to steal the Police Intercepter from Max and Goose, and bring it back into the GTA world....

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2003-07-20 02:01pm

Mind you I have blown an Engine and Tranny in real life downshifting for speed, after suffering catastrophic break failure. Used it in an arguement against a fundamentalist who was trying to convert me with the logic that "Only a merical" saved my life during my incident of going down hill, Steepwinding Grade & No Breaks. I pointed out that anyone with any brains knows how to use the engine as a break....

Baron Mordo · Post by **Baron Mordo** » 2003-07-20 02:13pm

Different weapons. Police batons and uzis are nice, but I want to see normal things used as weapons. Like a shovel, or a chipper-shredder.

Interactive environments. I want to be able to bust into someone's house, shove their hand in a blender, then make a sandwich.

Disguise kits! While being chased by the cops, you should be able to duck into an alley and toss on a fedora and a fake moustache. Or even a cocktail dress and wig!

Basic human needs would be good. If you don't get enough sleep, you collapse, or start hallucinating. If you don't eat, you die from malnutrition. There should be a running tally of your nutrient levels, so you have to get a balanced intake of food. No living off ramen noodles!

You should be able to go straight. Find a different, more legal way to get Sonny's money. Like real estate, or mutual funds. Heck, even getting a job at Burger King should be an option.

All these are fantastic ideas, and would make the game at least 50% better!

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-07-21 01:46am

I'd like to be able to create a gang, recruit people, make friends and enemies with other gangs, do missions with the gang, stuff like that. I'd also like gang wars on the streets, with police responding to break it up and arrest people.

I'd also like ot character to be able to swim for a short time too.

A bigger city. More buildings to explore. Perhaps a freeway leading out of the city and goes on for several minutes until there's some broken bridge or natural disaster as an excuse to keep the game from extending into the rest of the world.

More car chases. Perhaps one where you are chased down the freeway I mentioned.

More easter eggs. Perhaps extra places you can go to once completing the game.

Less frustrating controls in some cases.

A higher helicpoter flight ceiling.

More Pressing Issues.

A speedometer, and the ability to control your speed better.

A new tank to replace the Rhino.

More ability to run legitimate business fronts.

Bicycles.

A need for things like sleep and food for realism.

More cars. Perhaps a Pinto that can be used as a bomb.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-07-22 05:54am

The Yosemite Bear wrote:Aside from the Obvious Mod Mod (Brit mobster theme), which has been done. THe Austrialian Post apaclyptic level of GTA....

Which allows you to steal the Police Intercepter from Max and Goose, and bring it back into the GTA world....

I already mentioned that.

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2003-07-22 05:36pm

A futuristic version would be awesome. Could you imagine having a giant Fifth Element-like city and stealing people's flying cars and such? That would be great. There could be regular streets and the cars could drive on the ground, but then they could also fly, like the way the cars were in Back to the Future. You could go to different cities by going into flying shuttles or just by flying there yourself. The storyline would be more like GTA 3 in that you are a nameless, voiceless, and completely customizable character that works for various factions. But at the end of the storyline, you could create your own gang that rivals all of the other ones. You could form alliances and enemies depending on who you worked for in the past and to what extent you screwed over the other factions.

In this game, there would be no military, but only different levels of police.

1 star = Only the cop you commited the crime around will try to arrest you.
2 stars = Cops pursue you only if you happen to run into them.
3 stars = Cops now actually start looking for you.
4 stars = Cops start blocking off roads/skylanes and come at you with heavy weapons and such.
5 stars = A SWAT team-like unit is now involved. They have excellent weaponry and vehicles.
6 stars = An FBI-like branch is now involved.

When it reaches 6 stars, you cannot dodge from the FBI-type guys easily. You can't simply switch vehicles, you can't get a paint job, you can't change your clothes, or just kill time...all of that is useless. The only way of avoiding the agents is by getting a completely new identification, which would cost a helluva lot of money. If you are arrested or killed at 6 stars, they keep tabs on you when you respawn with agents in trench coats following you on the streets and in cars.

But if you get a new identification, they disappear.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2003-07-22 05:49pm

the last star wouldn't be much fun, I prefare keeping the original elements of pay'n'spray for all levels, for keeping the GTA feeling.

and what would you call it? GTdelorans?