Gaming Signal: The Fifth Element and Gaming

The Fifth Element and Gaming

So over at SFSignal, we have a link to a great read from Double Viking entitled "Real Men Love The Fifth Element", and for me that is a true statement. One of the things brought up in the in the article was a discussion about the ZF-1. In case you have forgotten, I have a image of the gun linked (from the lovely folks over at Studio Creations) and snagged the quote from Double Viking who pulled the lines from the movie:

It's light. Handle's adjustable for easy carrying, good for righties and lefties. Breaks down into four parts, undetectable by x-ray, ideal for quick, discreet interventions. A word on firepower. Titanium recharger, three thousand round clip with bursts of three to three hundred, and with the Replay button - another Zorg invention - it's even easier. One shot, and Replay sends every following shot to the same location. And to finish the job, all the Zorg oldies-but-goldies: rocket launcher, arrow launcher with explosive or poisonous gas heads (very practical), Zorg's famous net launcher, the always efficient flamethrower (Zorg's favorite), and for the grand finale, the all-new ice cube system.

Boy, that description alone just screams out for a similar gun in a first person shooter. In most games, the player must either carry an arsenal around with them or choose between one or two main weapons and a pistol for a sidearm. Pariah claimed to have upgradeable weapons, but something like this would be different. I guess I envisioned a gun that started out with a single function (like the ice cube maker!!!) Then as the player migrates through the worlds/encounters, they are able to find additional modifications that bring the ZF-1 one step closer to perfection. Designers could get really creative regarding the outfitting the weapon in having it be another character for the player to be involved in. Also, they could work in elements where the gun would need to be broken down and reassembled - think mini-games. So for all you game developers out there building the next generation of FPS games, how about some creativity regarding the weapons. I love the experience of chewing up bad guys with a chainsaw, but these "future weapons" seem like minor modifications to existing arms...

Love the idea Tim - good inspiration.

Imagine a mini-game every time you get a new gun function/part where you have to dissasemble the gun, add the new part, then reassemble it. It would be even cooler if things functioned differently based on HOW it was assembled. Even something as simple as the primary function can be customized based on your personal preference. Think instead of 'reconfiguring controls' to make the sniper rifle on the 1 key, you can reconfigure your gun to make the sniper scope (and thus allow sniping) as the primary function (and thus ending up on the 1 key.)

If you could assume the gun in such a way that combining the flame thrower with the grenade launcher created a flaming grenade that exploded in fire, that would be cool too.

Posted by scottsh on Friday July 20, 2007 at 3:58 PM