I believe we are getting all sort of troubles here in the game design because we are thinking too big.
I was a gamer a while back, before work took my time and the games overcame mi ability to find hardware to play them on, so I`m outdated on the area. but let`s give this a try:
a FPS is good, except that with good guns, it`s a massacre, with standard guns, you are massacred. And of course, there is the trivial issue of the lack of real infantry skirmishes in war. Isolated events can`t count because they are isolated, duh. Something could be worked out by making the player part of a team, kind of a swat or special ops team. Also, the scenarios must be carefully constructed to allow the player to call aerial or artillery strikes, or at least use them as they happen.
a RTS is even better, except that the best RTSs are based on the well balancing of factions, and the whole point of TSW is the great unbalance of it. So humans would have to be kept in a short leash concerning ammo, population caps shorter than the other factions and making tin foil a researched technology rather than a faction perk, to level the early tech tree and give the baldricks a shoot at rushing. heavy balancing stuff to do here.
But I was thinking more like Star Wars. Have you noticed that Star wars is not A game, but rather gameS? because it`s too hard to encompass an Universe and all its possibilities in one story.
So, for what we have here, we can start with a RTS, TSW: Armaggedon, having humans vs baldricks in campaign mode and using it to level up the techs gradually. Of course there would be a lot of commando type missions, but the great battles will also be there in all splendor. and having humans, demons, orcs and whatever else we find interesting in multiplayer mode, (and some HEAVY balancing stuff to do there). For the expansion TSW:Armaggedon, Belial`s Revenge, we introduce Belial's minions and maybe second lifers as playable
. Or switch orcs with second lifers. Also, angels as non playable but constantly present. There is also Caesar`s New Rome, which can be modeled as a separate faction.
Balancing can be helped by having some missions going baldrick vs baldrick and human vs human.
Then we go with another RTS, TSW: Pantheoncide, which, unsurprisingly introduce angels as a new faction. Or this could be the expansion of the first game, take your pick. having angels as a playable faction in a RTS is heavy, because to remain loyal to the story it has some flaws. Angels can`t be produced as fast as the other races and remain consistent with story. We can make second lifers the standard unit of this faction, though. And make then really, really tough and hard to see or hit. Also, angels could have as a faction trait the ability to retreat instantly through portals and/or to be reinforced in the same way. Again, HEAVY balancing to do here, specially for the missions and specially since there were almost any battle fought directly by angels. The campaign mode could start (or have a tutorial, even a distinct campaign) with some scenes of the Celestial War. that would emphasize the asskicking angels will get afterwards.
There is always the Red Alert game theory: Fuck story (and History). Set the scenario, and play it for each side involved while history plays itself without regard of how it was played in other faction`s campaigns. That could be fun, having angels kicking human ass in one non-canon campaign, and having human-baldricks kicking theirs in the canonical path. again, your pick.
That`s about RTS. Now we expand farther with the FPS, TSW: PFLH. Self explanatory, I would say
It starts of course with one human dead, and being rescued by the PFLH. We can take advantage of the silent zone that exists in the development of the PFLH since its inception to the time they get to establish a free zone. Not every ambush or war action is depicted, but certainly there were a lot of them. So instead of playing as one of the book`s characters, we play as an anonymous one, which takes orders from our heroes. Thus armament problem solved. Baldricks are a threat one to one still, so it has great potential. Not to mention that we could include treason as a plot device, either from second lifers or from first lifers that are controlled by daemons or worse. there are choices to be made there, but it has potential. I must say I would LOVE such a game. As someone said before, Doom ain`t got squat over this.
The FPSs can go on. We can have TSW:Left Behind, played from Memnon perspective. A bit tricky since it is not a Shooter, but maybe we can work something out, a la Commando. Not thrilled about this one, though.
TSW: Home Front, in which you play a SWAT like team tasked with the take down of baldrick berserks. There have being games built around this concept, like the eponymous SWAT, where the emphasis is on team management and performance on the mission according to pre established ROE, rather than action. That can provide opportunities to leverage human and baldrick power, since we are constrained by civilian presence and the lack of heavy support. The player can be a militia man, a civilian patrol, or can have a deeper backstory, like that girl that used to be tortured by daemons and later found her torturer to be just a baldrick teenager (or equivalent). That could work, having the war passing at your side while you put fires out in the rear.
TSW: Spetnaz, having to play as a special forces ops furthering a hidden agenda within the Russian Government to establish control and thwart a conspiracy to give angels an advantage in the stalling game michael was playing. you play as (or against) russian special forces, mafia, angel worshippers, civilians, Chinese, you name it. This concept can be taken everywhere, and expands on the idea of internal insurgency Michael played in Thailand and North Korea. Just because we saw those two, doesn`t mean it wasn`t tried in other parts. Although it is not likely given the high profile personnel attached to it. But it`s worth a shot
Alternatively, TSW:Opposing Force, where you play as a daemon soldier survivor from the Phlegethon River massacre that is considered a desertor by his liege, an enemy by first lifers and the PFLH and an oppresor by free second lifers and orcs. Having his worldview shattered, playing like this guy can be interesting, giving the chances of personality building we can have (for example, we can make him work as a protector of second lifers prior to his fall, thus making second lifer`s help available in latter missions, or we can make him align with Satan and the orthodox daemons, or to Belial`s, Dagon`s or Eurydale`s faction, or we can have a choice of him earning the reluctant trust of the PFLH, while his personality changes accordingly. I`m using Drippy as a character model for this one, obviously.)
I could give a couple of other FPS ideas, but it would get boring, so let`s leave it at that.
There are other choices, as well. For example, the battle of Phlegethon River, The battle of Hit, and the battle against the Legion of Light, which I don`t remember if it was named, can be played in a Battlefield style of RTS/FPS scenario. Pretty difficult to play, I recall, but innovative at the time, and fun. No economy, though, so it can degrade to tower defense.
There is also the chance to play as the Spearhead battalion in several missions. Missions which the game can be creative with, since that team attained a high status and not all its missions are depicted explicitly. And in that same line, there is plenty of room for aerial mission gaming, a la F-22 (remember I don`t play since the Universe was young). We could use the idea of using the polluted Hell environment to give the harpies a shot at the planes. Or we could work a flight simulator of sorts, playing the physics rather than the action as the main asset of the game (Microsoft Flight Simulator, for example. And it flew CIVILIAN passenger airliners. Most boring game EVER. I got to say, I never understood why so many people around me liked it).
Of course, any number of silly little flash games of tower defense and quests, internet games of building, diplomaticy and economics can also be thought out.
the main points I want to make, are these:
1- This is an Universe. As such, it can`t be encompassed in one game, but rather, is encompasses many games and experiences that can be enjoyed in different perspectives.
2 - The best ideas for games concepts and development comes from those times, places and events that are hinted, or not hinted at, rather than explicitly depicted. There is so many going on that we can exploit, that it is of no importance whether we use canonical characters and events or not, as long as we stay within the timeline and the Universe concept.
And as a PS: There are three sentient races at work. We can develop any of them. Do not fall in Most Writers Are Humans.
And remember, every game idea can be developed also as a fan fiction book idea. And many more...
EDIT: I couldn`t let this slide without mention my personal FPS favorite: TSW: Beyond the Pearly Gates. With a gameplay like Commando, Hitman, GTA or Vampire: The masquerade, this game could combine action, camouflage, espionage and team work to make it a very exciting option. It would play as a sandbox (taking a few liberties with the side of the Celestial City, unfortunately) and we could play as one of the several special ops team that entered the city, which doesn`t necessarily have to be friendly to each other. We could accomplish information gathering missions, getting points for stealth and silent killings, we could stage sabotages, etc.
If you choose to start in Hell without covering any of the earth segments, then we get an opening cutscene of his jackassishness, his (horrible) death, then waking up in Hell. We'd have to twist the time line a little, but that's no great problem.
