Psych would make a great adventure game. What other shows would you recommend?

[Joseph DiPerla]

As the title says. In fact, there are a few tv series I would love to see turned into an adventure game such as Smallville, Burn Notice, NCIS, 24, etc... They all seem to be very good idea's for adventure games... Well... Smallville might be better as a 3d run and jump game, but the others are still pretty valid.

Its always surprised me that developers, both commercial/professional and amatuers have not released any adventure games based on these shows. Well, correction, there is a first person sorta adventure game for NCIS on the android phone. But otherwise, these other shows have no games developed for them. I think the reason that this is is because they are better adventure games than the standard popular platform or shootem up genre's that most people play today.

But after watching about 30 episodes of Psych this week (I love my ps3 and netflix!) I thought that there couldn't be a better fit for an adventure game (Except for those mentioned above)!

How would I approach it if it were me? Well, I would have to say this might be best Sierra style as far as game play goes. For the most part anyway. I would have a simple GUI that uses buttons rather than verbs and I would have it work much like the later Space quest and police quest games. They would have something like look, talk, listen, interact, touch and smell. Perhaps the icons would be animated, just for modern day sake.

What about conversations? As much as I do not really appreciate adult humor (Atleast not to the level that Liesure Suit Larry to it to), I did like LSL7's conversation window and also Mean Streets way of conversing with a text parser as well as the mood window in the NCIS android game. So how would I work this personally? I would have a choice window for conversations, you know, the usual choose your conversation dialog such as in Indiana Jones and the last crusade. The dialog would ask about events and such and even offer some remarks that the character would make. But I would also add an "ask about" option where you would be able to type in a name of an individual and depending at what point you are at in the game, you can gain information about that particular person. The one thing I would add to this is that rather than just simply ask the question, you have 3 ways in which you can ask it. One is nicely, the other is nuetral and finally, hostile. I would also allow the usage of showing objects to a character as a way to gain information or make trades.

How would the conversations take place? I had two ways of thinking this through. There can be a 1st person mode, such as was in LSL7, but with a small little feature. Being that Shawn can nitpick every little thing, one thing that would be useful is that Shawn can move the cursor around the screen of the person he is talking to and examine clues in the background. For any other character that is being controlled, the conversations take place completely in 3rd person, ala LEC games.

As far as character control goes, I would say that there are four characters that are needed to control. One would be Shawn, and the other would be Gus. But if I were making this game, I would modify this to work a little differently than most typical adventure games. First off, Gus will follow Shawn no matter where Shawn goes, unless Shawn tells Gus to stay put, or the user takes control of Gus and moves him somewhere else. I would also put a little feature in there that when Gus is starting to get pissed, he would make some excuse to leave and Shawn needs to find a way to get him to stay, whether by pulling some prank or by convincing him with his words.

The other two character to control would be Juliet O'Hara and Henry Spencer as they seem to be the other two best characters well suited to assist Shawn and Gus. The other characters would just not seem to be so helpful, such as Lassiter or the Chief Vick.

To keep the game as real as possible to the tv show, I Would of course be sure to keep the main characters and locations and trademarks from the show in the game. Infact, besides the ones mentioned above, Buzz Mcnab, Carlton Lassiter, Chief Karen Vick, and Woody the Coroner. The locations that would certainly need to be kept in the game would be that of Shawns house, The Psych office, Gus's work place, Henry Spencer's home and the police station. Gus' car should certainly be used as well as Carlton's should make an appearance. And like most Psych episodes, I would most definetly begin the game with a flashback cutscene to Shawn being taught some valuable life lesson from his dad in which what he learned there would somehow help him in the game to solve the case in the end.

Gameplay would be no different than any other adventure game. I would definetly make it 3rd person. The graphics I would go with would be similar to The special editions of Monkey Island. I would have the inventory windows reflect which character you are controlling. The one thing that would be different from other games is that when Shawn, and when only Shawn, finds a clue that it would glow momentarily as it does in the show. Pointless, yes, but it keeps it true to the show. And the characters personalities would most certainly have to reflect the tv shows characters such as Gus' uptightness, Jules Genuineness(Is that a word?), Shawns crazy psych vision mannerisms, Henry's usual put down of Shawn and Carlton's dislike of Shawn and Gus as well as Woody's wackyness.

The last feature I would add in this game, that would not be in most adventure games, is clue collecting. Every Clue that Shawn and the controllable characters collect would be stored in a clue database which you can go back to and research as a reference.

All in all, I think this would make a great and fun game. Unfortunately, I do not have enough graphical talent to make the game. So, if you got excited at this idea, sorry. But it wont be a reality.

What other TV shows would make a great adventure game and how would you have it played? I am curious to know what everyone thinks of that. Of course, you can also post criticism of my Psych game idea if you would like. Either, or are welcome.

[TerranRich]

"Genuineness" is indeed a word.

If they hadn't already made it, I would say that the "Back to the Future" universe would make a great adventure game. I'd still love to make a BTTF game that took place before the first one, or that overlapped with one or more of the 3 movies, perhaps showing us gameplay for scenes that were never shown on-screen.

I think Dexter would make a great adventure game. If I was't already busy working on a game already, I'd take on that task. In fact, I still might if I had some help. Awesome TV show, awesome potential for adventure game greatness.

[Joseph DiPerla]

Actually, they did make a Back to the Future Adventure game and I think its freely available. There is a thread somewhere about it around here. I havent played the game, but it got mixed reviews from what I hear.

[Frodo]

The Merlin tv series with Anthony Head & Bradley James would make great adventure games, I think.  Just think of all tasks that Merlin can be set, while trying to keep his secret.   

[TerranRich]

Actually, they did make a Back to the Future Adventure game and I think its freely available. There is a thread somewhere about it around here. I havent played the game, but it got mixed reviews from what I hear.

Ahem. I was the one who created the BTTF game thread (the original one at least).

If they hadn't already made it...

In other words, "If Telltale hadn't already made such a game just the other day, then I would have liked to make it."

[Wonkyth]

Danger Mouse!

[m0ds]

Well, you never know who's watching or reading and at some point a thread like this will be included in TellTale's market research and so forth, turned into an episodic adventure and sold for profit But I'm highly tempted to make an episodic game based on a certain Australian lighthouse where weird and wacky things happen, based on a show that I really enjoyed as a kid. That's all I'm saying, some sneaky company has probably just considered buying the rights.

[Snake]

On the subject of a Back to the Future adventure game, I would love to see what Terran had already mentioned. Except in the classic adventure game style, such as Monkey Island. I can't wait to get my free copy of Telltale's next month, but I would love to see it in the 2D style. LucasArts should make one

I always thought that the show Law & Order would make a great series of adventure games. And of course, McGyver would make a kick-ass adventure game.

[m0ds]

Except in the classic adventure game style, such as Monkey Island.

Would be phat. But I'm still pretty psyched about the new series. Someone drew me an awesome 2D Doc and Marty back in the day for my project "lost in time", about doc's kids getting lost in time, where every year had a different look (the future was in 3D, the 90's were 2D MI style and earlier times were 8bit and ASCII graphics). I'll have to dig that stuff up for reference some day.

These kind of things are certainly worth doing for fun, but my advice - which keeps getting passed on to me by people involved with major franchises - is keep it original, do your own thing. I agree with that now (but wouldn't have 10 years ago *ahem*) I don't really want to fan-make or "for free" involve myself in any other major franchises. I think the right time to do that is when you're asked or employed to do it. I know that isn't really what Joey is getting at but that's my 2 cents.

But I totally agree it would be a lot of fun to make and produce a 2D BTTF game whilst it's in the 3D spotlight. On topic - with the right attitude, I think most of the serious game developers could make a game out of any show or film.

[Joseph DiPerla]

Well the thing is that if a movie or tv show is action filled, it most likely will have a video game based on it, but as long as it can be made into a platformer or shooter, such as 24. But on the other hand, we have many awesome tv shows or movies that would make great games as point and click adventures, yet they do not feel games like that are marketable or profitable. So games that could potentially include Psych, Burn Notice, NCIS, etc... never get made because they wouldn't be turned into a popular genre of a game.

The best way to prove something like this wrong is by actually making games based on a tv show and show how much fun it is. But like its been alluded to, this is just a pipe dream. Again, if I had graphics talent (I cant even draw stick figures, can you believe that?) I would have made some of these games a long time ago. Maybe a MAGS competition should be based on one of these types of games...

But seriously, there are some really good shows you guys mentioned and I am curious to know what show you were talking about Mods...

I thought of another show that would be pretty sweet as an adventure, but only once the show wraps up its story line, and that would be "The Event".

[Anian]

Thing about "detective" games, for example Sherlock Holmes usage, kind of confuse me and never feel right to me. I think the problem is that...well I'm not Sherlock Holmes, I'm not Poirot, Grisom etc. I'm not able to see a person and conclude they've been to the orient a month ago and married twice...how am I suppose to play games like that and believe it?
I like to watch such shows because they're smart and I like the mysteries but I have faced the fact I won't ever be on that level of thought process, therefore the game experience will be with a handicap.

Nothing wrong with taking inspiration from certain things - like take more than one case and mix it into one mystery.

[Ultra Magnus]

A LazyTown adventure game would be good. Somebody should totally make that.

[strangechicken]

I think it needs to be said... Richard O'Brien's Crystal Maze would make a kick ass adventure game! Even if the puzzles were in a series of minigames ala the shows format. If anything it'd be great to have Richard O'Brien in any game that isn't that terribly designed Rocky Horror Interactive show.

[Saren]

The Dresden Files. It's about a wizard who helps solve crime involving magic. It's not as lame as it sounds. It's actually well written and executed. Too bad they only made one season though.

[strangechicken]

The Dresden Files. It's about a wizard who helps solve crime involving magic. It's not as lame as it sounds. It's actually well written and executed. Too bad they only made one season though.

Sounds similar to another show "Moonlight" about Mick St John, a Vampire private investigator who helped solve crimes which involved vampires and the supernatural, also not a bad show. unfortunately aain they only ever made one season... Kinda sad too because they had a whole petition to make a second one but nohing ever came rm it and it just died.

[Jim Reed]

Back to the future?

[Saren]

The Dresden Files. It's about a wizard who helps solve crime involving magic. It's not as lame as it sounds. It's actually well written and executed. Too bad they only made one season though.

Sounds similar to another show "Moonlight" about Mick St John, a Vampire private investigator who helped solve crimes which involved vampires and the supernatural, also not a bad show. unfortunately aain they only ever made one season... Kinda sad too because they had a whole petition to make a second one but nohing ever came rm it and it just died.

I own Moonlight on DVD. It's pretty good but I've watched it so many times that I am sick of it.

I absolutely love Supernatural. Part of the reason I like the Ben Jordan series is because it's quite similar to Supernatural, the Dresden Files, Moonlight, Charmed...

[strangechicken]

The Dresden Files. It's about a wizard who helps solve crime involving magic. It's not as lame as it sounds. It's actually well written and executed. Too bad they only made one season though.

Sounds similar to another show "Moonlight" about Mick St John, a Vampire private investigator who helped solve crimes which involved vampires and the supernatural, also not a bad show. unfortunately aain they only ever made one season... Kinda sad too because they had a whole petition to make a second one but nohing ever came rm it and it just died.

I own Moonlight on DVD. It's pretty good but I've watched it so many times that I am sick of it.

I absolutely love Supernatural. Part of the reason I like the Ben Jordan series is because it's quite similar to Supernatural, the Dresden Files, Moonlight, Charmed...

If i like the moonlight series, should i look into desden, is it similar that i woud like it, because i also love supernatural (the tv show and the thing itself), in fact i'm writing a book which is a collection of academic research essays i did in my free time into the eptimology and historical origins of the most popualar supernatural creatures.  It is also whih drew me to play the Ben Jordan series and a lot of the monsters in my game have folklorish origins, the Banshee (Irish Gaelic origins), Ghoul (romanian), tho i took a lot of poetic licence.

But back on topic, I think for a bit of humor, the flonstones would make an interesting adventure game. jsut the way every device is manufactured in the series (use of dinosaurs to make moving machinary etc.) would make for some interesting puzzles

[Darth Mandarb]

I've always wanted to make an adventure game based on Dead Like Me.

[Joseph DiPerla]

I think you should make an adventure on the Clone wars...   

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