I keep playing the old games for new ideas, and how to fix stuff, and so heres a few:

*Handling of Cars - I feel that Driver 1 on PC has the best car handling of any of the games, e-brake around a corner and tap brake to bring the car pretty much exactly where you want it to go, or press burnout for some serious sliding action.

Not only that, but at high speeds, when you swirve through traffic, the car fishtails, although probably less than in real life (which is good), but it takes more skill to keep the car going straight. We need this fishtailing again, but make it part of the difficulty level so beginners can swirve through traffic just like the pro's

*Unlocking Cheat Codes/Extras - Other than just finding them, a good way to unlock such features is through the mini games. For beating certain records (while racing the clock), you would unlock cooler cheat codes for better times. The shorter time it takes to loose the tail (on getaway or survival), catch the criminal (pursuit), or get to a certain place (checkpoint I assume, don't play many other minigames though), you would unlock some of the coolest cheat codes in the game (since it would be harder than finding them because of maps online)

*User Created Content - This one would be really hard to program I think. Obviously for user created content you would have missions, but how about user created awards? These could range from more basic things like cars and guns, to very complex things, such as cheat codes. I'm not sure how you would program such a thing so that a user could easily create a cheat code, they might need to have programming knowledge of their own. This is just an idea that popped into my head, and if feasibly possible, is still quite a few years down the road.

Thats it for now, back to my studies

quote:

Originally posted by matt__jon:
Thrill cam needs an upgrade, or rather several
1. Make it so we press once to enter thrill cam, and press again when we're finished (I think DPL had this, whoops)
2. Make a high pressure press on the button slow down to bullet time, regular slow motion isn't enough
3. Let us move angle camera around with R3, with the focus being on the players car
4. L3 should move the camera, it should automatically focus on whatever is center screen (only if touched), this way we can move to where the action is going to happen
5. R2 zooms in on focused object, L2 zooms out
6. Give us thrill cam on foot

I realize this impairs you from controlling the vehicle during thrill cam, but I only use it for crashes anyway

Survival Mode:
-----------------
The original survival mode was tough. You were dropped in a city with 4 cops barreling in on you, and were expected to somehow make something of it, which was really more of a fluke, caused by chance.

Just trying to get away from the initial onslaught of the cops takes no skill. While I do like the difficulty, and it presents a good challenge, I think when you first start off, there should be no cops charging you, give you a chance to get up some speed, then they attack.

Also survival mode, as with other game modes, should be started from the pause menu at any point in the city, so we can try it out at different venues to see how the cops handle the terrain and obstacles.

Yes, the film director needs more improvement and no doubt is it that we need it back.

Also, that's a great idea, seeing that you want the ability to choose Survival mode from the pause menu and being able to select where you can start in the mode. Honestly, you should be able to begin it wherever you are now or you can go to the map and start over whenever you want, changing the destination of where you want to start of. This is what I find as a good idea for Survival Mode.

quote:

Originally posted by actiondreamer:
I would love to see an enhanced film director with numerous options, where you can put your camera and have it do different things like attaching it to a moving vehicle (where the camera moves with the vehicle, like what Driver for PC had), or have it target on a selected vehicle while the camera stands still which is the usual camera option. I would also like an ability to set your camera at a certain area and have it move in action during play and it‘ll track from one selected area to the next instead of standing in one spot. Also it would be cool to put your camera inside the vehicle and position it the way you want and you can see the character inside the vehicle… And it would be cool if the character was very interactive with the vehicle’s interior and intentions to the environment outside of the vehicle, like maybe the character would glaze at other cop cars from time to time, etc. There is limitless opportunities for the Hollywood car chase formula and I wish the best that Reflections/Ubisoft will deliver it!

I don't think that we need to see Film Director placed to see what people are doing in the game, but it should be for making a car chase look great.

I just thought of a better idea now on how to build upon a replay feature for a Driver game. Instead of having options of filming a car chase, we should be able to have more options like being able to film how the people (cops or main character) are doing something in the game, or even for being able to notice anything we haven't noticed before, much like a random situation. The replays need to be more improved for the driving, but I think that they should make it for more than just driving and that we should be able to select it from the Pause menu of when we want it to start rolling rather than have it begin from the start of the game. Sometimes, you may do nothing interesting in the game and if there was a tape that got filmed, it would be a waste, so an option of turning it on in the Pause menu would take care of any problems.

quote:

Originally posted by matt__jon:
I keep playing the old games for new ideas, and how to fix stuff, and so heres a few:

*Handling of Cars - I feel that Driver 1 on PC has the best car handling of any of the games, e-brake around a corner and tap brake to bring the car pretty much exactly where you want it to go, or press burnout for some serious sliding action.

Not only that, but at high speeds, when you swirve through traffic, the car fishtails, although probably less than in real life (which is good), but it takes more skill to keep the car going straight. We need this fishtailing again, but make it part of the difficulty level so beginners can swirve through traffic just like the pro's

*Unlocking Cheat Codes/Extras - Other than just finding them, a good way to unlock such features is through the mini games. For beating certain records (while racing the clock), you would unlock cooler cheat codes for better times. The shorter time it takes to loose the tail (on getaway or survival), catch the criminal (pursuit), or get to a certain place (checkpoint I assume, don't play many other minigames though), you would unlock some of the coolest cheat codes in the game (since it would be harder than finding them because of maps online)

*User Created Content - This one would be really hard to program I think. Obviously for user created content you would have missions, but how about user created awards? These could range from more basic things like cars and guns, to very complex things, such as cheat codes. I'm not sure how you would program such a thing so that a user could easily create a cheat code, they might need to have programming knowledge of their own. This is just an idea that popped into my head, and if feasibly possible, is still quite a few years down the road.

Thats it for now, back to my studies

I agree about everything, but for the user created content, it should be instead customizations on different kinds of things because modding a game on a game console would be too difficult. Maybe a PC version would be able to do it though. And the customizations would allow for you to use and keep it for the gameplay or send it to another person over an online service (i.e. Xbox Live, Playstation Online Platform, whichever console or consoles that the game will come out for).

True, it may be harder to mod for them, but consoles are becoming more and more like PC's, my friend got an X360 and as soon as he plugged it in, he had to go online and download stuff just to play games (which sucks, what happened to plug and play?)

Anyway, modding of console games is not too far off I don't think, now that they have hard drives so they can store these mods

Reflections needs to shift directions for the Driver franchise that there is enough change to go by to make the next games so memorable. It's possible that by removing or changing certain elements of a game and even adding in new levels of gameplay, it could help them very much. The Driver franchise has not yet reached its 10th anniversary, but I would expect that after 10 years, the franchise should take such a huge and tremendous leap, it would crown the action/driving genre, which is practically the genre that it best fits in.

I may recall the fact that when Resident Evil 4 was released, it brought a whole level of new gameplay to the Resident Evil franchise. It ended up changing many things and that makes it stand atop as perhaps the best Resident Evil game thus far. RE4 allowed the camera view to jump from that kind of strange one to a shoulder view (or 2nd person) where you would see everything in front of you and even your character while having a good control over your character, regardless of the actions that you perform. You would be given the ability to kick, jump through a window, and several others. The storyline was such a new thing to the Resident Evil series that I would consider it the best one since both RE1 and RE2, which too, are the best RE games. The graphics weren't any better than those of Resident Evil 0 or Resident Evil Remake, but they were quite impressive. Having Leon S. Keneddy and Ada Wong back in the game was awesome. Even the many modes featured in the game are an awesome edition to the RE franchise.

My point is that if Reflections can go through getting rid of anything that may be unneccessary (whatever that may be), they should do so in order to allow for other things to accompany the game and help change it for the better. I do want many things returning for the next Driver game, which are the on-foot abilities (jumping, swimming, crouching, shooting), Film Director, hidden vehicles and cheats, kinds of vehicles (those that suited the Driver franchise well the most), a creative background for the menu (doesn't have to be a main menu, but it should look much in comparison to that), awesome AI for the cops, Tanner, great missions (similar to those of both D1 and D2), a wide variety of different roads (hills, streets, alleyways, ramps, etc.), minigames (Trailblazer, Survival, Training, Getaway, etc.), awesome physics and damage that would do as great for the PS3 as it did for the PS when talking about D1, and a TAR mode. I want things to change such as having online multiplayer, downloadable content, more abilities (just not too many as in GTA and not an useless ones), more kinds of vehicles, a great city, and more.

Edit: I even mentioned some great ideas at the GTAivnews.com forums, so I may be able to let Reflections read it here too (incase R* North doesn't use it for their games). You may feel free to read what I posted below.

- Controls should accompany every element found in the game and should work as best as it would ever suit that kind of element (i.e. different buttons for fighting when in a fighting mode like in a fighting game). On-foot and driving should all be done extremely well with the controls.

Competing against your friends in side missions and minigames would be great. You can choose to be any kind of person you'd like (cop, gangster, pedestrian, fire fighter, etc.). Co-op should be a new kind of gameplay when considering what can be done for the missions. Instead of hiring new bodyguards to help you out, maybe you would like to work with a friend instead, so that could be taken into account.

- AI for NPCs that is incredibly smart, reacting to the players' actions, the environment, and other NPCs found in the game, making either smart or stupid decisions that decide what will happen to them. This factor is many times ignored in games, which is bad, considering the fact that it brings more challenge into the game along with adding realism that feels great as being part of the gameplay. People should be able to get whatever they want done. For instance, if you were to take someone hostage, you can force the cops to put their weapons done and face the wall. If you go upto someone's vehicle, you can have a choice of either highjacking it and making the pedestrian run away, jacking it and taking the pedestrian as a hostage, shooting the hostage while in the vehicle, or pointing a gun at the ped and getting inside the vehicle, asking him/her to drive you where you want to go (a map would then be displayed and you would simply choose your destination. Then you would just wait or skip to the part where the destination is and then leave the vehicle. There should be many different ways to interact with anyone and anything in the game (not only you, but also NPCs), and there should be almost a million different things that can result from that decision that is made. People should be able to buy things in the game and you should see them doing it too.

- Weapons from previous time periods and even ones of the current time period. You should be able to buy them at gunshops (instead of doing it at a place like Ray's auto shop, which would seem to weird because the place is for cars, not for weapons), but there should be a specific amount available to you and you are to wait for the person to take it off the wall and hand it to you. If you were to kill the person, you can take as much ammo as you would ever want. This would be an awesome way to get things more quickly.

- Songs of many different famous artists and groups that comes from a large amount of different music genres and feels great for each part of the game.

- less glitches: I don't really find very much interest in the glitches and rather Reflections would be better using that time for work on making their elements as best as ever could be seen from any recent game and its genre. Testers should definitely be careful about the glitches of the game. Remember, Reflections is trying to go for realism with their games, so it shouldn't look full of glitches.

Very nice post Assaultmachine1.


One change I would like to have in the Driver series is the characters in the story. Of course we need Tanner as the playable character, but as another character in the story, we need a big Barry White looking/sounding guy, like Rufus in Driver 1. Rufus made Driver 1 a cool game (in my opinion) because he looked and sounded just like Barry White. Sure he wasn't the character you played, but he made the story great (at least in the Miami part of the game). We need another character like Rufus/Barry White in the story, it would give it its Driver 1 resemblance to it. Sounds retarded to the rest of you, yeah, I know. But trust me, this would be cool.

quote:

Originally posted by Assaultmachine1:

quote:

Originally posted by actiondreamer:
I would love to see an enhanced film director with numerous options, where you can put your camera and have it do different things like attaching it to a moving vehicle (where the camera moves with the vehicle, like what Driver for PC had), or have it target on a selected vehicle while the camera stands still which is the usual camera option. I would also like an ability to set your camera at a certain area and have it move in action during play and it‘ll track from one selected area to the next instead of standing in one spot. Also it would be cool to put your camera inside the vehicle and position it the way you want and you can see the character inside the vehicle… And it would be cool if the character was very interactive with the vehicle’s interior and intentions to the environment outside of the vehicle, like maybe the character would glaze at other cop cars from time to time, etc. There is limitless opportunities for the Hollywood car chase formula and I wish the best that Reflections/Ubisoft will deliver it!

I don't think that we need to see Film Director placed to see what people are doing in the game, but it should be for making a car chase look great.

I agree...


Anyway, nice ideas guys.

Thank you both Actiondreamer and Driverman2006. Also, I like the idea for having a Rufus kind of character for the next Driver game. It sounds like it could be a great idea.

Edit:

What I hope to see Reflections change are many of the things that they decided to add for DPL since it was a mere GTA rip-off. I would want the following gone in future driver games:

- T.K. (we need an undercover cop, Tanner back)

- graphics (they look more horrible than in D3 and were more like those in the GTA games. What a bad example of how to use a graphics engine for a game.)

- side missions: I think that having side missions would feel more like the GTA games, but then again, I wouldn't mind if they were there. As long as they are done really well and are a lot of fun as in comparison to that in the GTA games, I won't mind at all.

- no film director: This was a stupid idea for Reflections to get it removed, so we need to have it back for the PS3 Driver game that Reflections plans to work on.

- a boring background for the menu: Driver 1, 2, and 3's backgrounds were more creative than DPL's and I certainly would not want to see another boring background as that in DPL. They should add similar backgrounds as that in the previous Driver games to make the menu still seem pretty interesting and artistic.

If these elements get removed, I'm sure that the Driver series will be continue to work from where it started and be able to accomplish even more than it did on the 6th generation consoles (PS2 and Xbox).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Assaultmachine1,

AssaultMachine1 mentioned smarter, almost life-like Artificial Intelligence for non-playable characters, which would definitely help, considering games need to move forward from last generation, and it's time characters got smarter.

How smart? Real person smart, but mostly unpredictable, without any preset patterns to predict, regarding driving and on foot computer controlled characters.

I really am against the front end menu. If we had a front end menu, then it would be as boring as hell. Think about it, there'd be no side missions, load screens, no customization, no money, NOTHING! I think D:PL is a user-friendly game because everything is within the game (and a pause menu). Now, I am for the pause menu, all games need that. I want the next Driver game to have it's system of D:PL/GTA, but with Tanner as the character you play (and as a good guy). D:PL has a lot of replay value to it because it's loaded with lots of side missions, money, customization, and other cool stuff.


Another thing, I want the music system to be done the same way as in D:PL. I don't want the $#!++y-ass way they did it in Drivers 1-3 (where it changes to the mood). I want real music damn it (with songs that have lyrics and no lyrics) that can be changed with the push of a button, and adding/removing songs to the soundtrack. I still want listen to David Bowie, Average White Band, Billy Preston, Iggy Pop, Blondie, The Cribs, The Dead 60s, Paul Oakenfold, Grandmaster Flash, The Departure, and more of my favorites from D:PL.

quote:

about it, there'd be no side missions, load screens, no customization, no money, NOTHING!

You are very close minded. Those could easliy be put into menu form.

Not that I don't agree with the main point, I like not having a front end menu the game automatically starts off with, though I would like more options on the pause menu, such as the mini games, replay missions, film director, etc.

I guess you got me there. I was another fan of replaying missions/cutscenes. I believe they could put that within the pause menu (only those missions and cutscenes that you completed), that way you can replay your favorite missions and cutscenes. This would make everything all better. I hope that's a fair enough solution.

quote:

Originally posted by InsaneDriver06:
AssaultMachine1 mentioned smarter, almost life-like Artificial Intelligence for non-playable characters, which would definitely help, considering games need to move forward from last generation, and it's time characters got smarter.

How smart? Real person smart, but mostly unpredictable, without any preset patterns to predict, regarding driving and on foot computer controlled characters.

Yes, it is a very big deal for Reflections to go with such an idea. I would like to add how great it is when you see games with a great level of realism and the kind of AI that isn't normally seen in many games, much like that found in Half-Life and Half-Life 2, which both really show how far a game can go in terms of realism and how great a FPS game can ever become. I just got the Half-Life Holiday 2006 Edition, which came with 6 different Half-Life games (including Counter-Strike) and I just love playing them. Right now, I'm playing Half-Life since I need to gain enough experience to get to play against other players and before ever going on to a different game in the pack.

Half-Life 1 really pushed the FPS further than ever, earning over 50 awards and selling more than 8 million copies, being called the best FPS of all time and while it doesn't have the same quality of graphics as that of today's games, it had the best ones around at that time and really pushed technology in games for a huge direction, raising the bar in the FPS genre. It had a very good story, a great arsenal of weapons, a fun multiplayer, great graphics, and some of the most realistic AI ever seen. There was a lot of realism in the game. This is an awesome example of a game that we should see Reflections try to come up with.

quote:

Originally posted by Driverman2006:
I really am against the front end menu. If we had a front end menu, then it would be as boring as hell. Think about it, there'd be no side missions, load screens, no customization, no money, NOTHING! I think D:PL is a user-friendly game because everything is within the game (and a pause menu). Now, I am for the pause menu, all games need that. I want the next Driver game to have it's system of D:PL/GTA, but with Tanner as the character you play (and as a good guy). D:PL has a lot of replay value to it because it's loaded with lots of side missions, money, customization, and other cool stuff.


Another thing, I want the music system to be done the same way as in D:PL. I don't want the $#!++y-ass way they did it in Drivers 1-3 (where it changes to the mood). I want real music damn it (with songs that have lyrics and no lyrics) that can be changed with the push of a button, and adding/removing songs to the soundtrack. I still want listen to David Bowie, Average White Band, Billy Preston, Iggy Pop, Blondie, The Cribs, The Dead 60s, Paul Oakenfold, Grandmaster Flash, The Departure, and more of my favorites from D:PL.

You must have misunderstood me, Driverman2006. I didn't say that I want to see a front end menu for the next Driver game, but that I do want Reflections to bring interesting background ideas for its pause menu much like that from the previous Driver games because DPL's background is not very creative and nor does it appeal to me.

quote:

Originally posted by matt__jon:

quote:

about it, there'd be no side missions, load screens, no customization, no money, NOTHING!

You are very close minded. Those could easliy be put into menu form.

Not that I don't agree with the main point, I like not having a front end menu the game automatically starts off with, though I would like more options on the pause menu, such as the mini games, replay missions, film director, etc.

Yes, we need more options.

quote:

Originally posted by Driverman2006:
I guess you got me there. I was another fan of replaying missions/cutscenes. I believe they could put that within the pause menu (only those missions and cutscenes that you completed), that way you can replay your favorite missions and cutscenes. This would make everything all better. I hope that's a fair enough solution.

I would love to replay cutscenes and missions. This idea is what I've been expecting from Reflections for DPL, but they couldn't get it done, yet I still want this for the next-gen Driver game and I hope Reflections does make the right choice by heading in the direction of changing the driving genre, adding more realism, and making the open-world more fun than ever before. Also, they should try to finally make the hollywood car chase theme look just like what you'd expect in a movie.

I was not responding to your previous post Assaultmachine1 (not being mean or anything). I just wanted to say what I wanted to say about the open city gameplay and the music system. Those were ideas that I had in my head at that moment. I just wanted to write it down before I lost it.

A front end menu would remind me of Driver 1, but the gameplay is what will make the difference. If there is a free ride, a mission mode, an extra games mode, multiplayer mode, etc, the free ride should allow for in-game saves for customization, upgrades and vehicles found in free ride.

I agree, InsaneDriver06. Although we need a good amount of sandbox gameplay in the next Driver game, we cannot have Reflections abandon the driving part of the game. I'm pretty sure that it would be a great idea to focus more on the sandbox gameplay for the next Driver game than the driving since it would at least give the on-foot and other things (besides just the driving) have for you a lot to do, which goes for TAR mode.

If I have to be harsh about the Driver series, when I get into a car, the take off feels a little stiff and flat, uninspiring. It's just not exciting. Maybe it's the camera view in Driver 3 I'm thinking about, that far off view behind the car.

Driver 4 (360, PS3, etc)
I want to really experience the next level of driving a car in the next gen Driver, see the vibration of the engine shake the interior, while the tires spin, burning rubber as the engine screams to life, racing the car forward. Take it to the next level Reflections.

Yes, more realism in terms of how vehicles look and perform in the game is what we need Reflections to do.

quote:

Originally posted by Assaultmachine1:
Yes, more realism in terms of how vehicles look and perform in the game is what we need Reflections to do.

Agreed. And hopefully, Reflections will add more camera views instead of only the standard 3rd person and 1st person and thrill cams.

Cameras for next gen Driver:
1. 1st person view of just the road.
2. Interior Dash View, showing steering wheel, dash, windows, mirrors, gauges/meters.
3. Front Hood camera, placed just outside the front windshield/window, showing the hood.
4. Close, 3rd person car view, just behind the rear bumper.
5. Medium 3rd person car view, as in D3.
6. Thrill Cam.

They can be easily cycled through, like in Test Drive Unlimited, or any racing game with 3 or more views. The more views, the better the experience/replay value.

I understand that it can mean better to have multiple camera views, but in addition, Reflections will need to take as much possible care found possible when trying to create the right experience for each of those camera views. As long as they are done well, it won't matter the amount of camera views that we see in the game.

I'm tired of being confined to 1 or 2 camera views. Good list Insane Driver. Allow me to add one though:

*Far 3rd person view, somewhere around 30 feet, maybe a little more, with some lag time on the camera turning, to give you the feel of being in a helicopter closely following the car. Theres a view like this in GTA, but there is not really any lag time in the camera turning with the car. Obviously don't do too much lag time.