Ideas for a socialist game/mod ?

[BogdanV]

I have some experience in modding C&C Renegade as I'm making my own total conversion mod for the game, and after seeing that there aren't too many games that have a pronounced socialist message, I thought on making our own game, the way we want it to be, with the storyline and messages that we want it to carry.
In this regard, I'm asking if anyone wants to join forces and also what suggestions/ideas would you have for such a game ?
What would you like to see ? How should it be ? (survival, tactical or action-oriented ? ) Any setting for it ? (sci-fi, modern day, etc)
As a note, I'm talking here about a FPS (at least in this field I have more knowledge).
I also thought on making a mod based on Orwell's 1984 setting, answering the "what if the proles actually rebelled against Big Brother ?", but in this case, its the call of the members of this forum.
So, how would you want your socialist FPS to look like and who would like to join me ?

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

You could mod the original Doom in to some Khmer Rouge style purge...

You could probably do the skins in MS Paint

[F9]

Aspiring video game makers (http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=143) group maybe?

[teenagebricks]

I was always a fan of the labour undertones in the Red Faction games but I'd like to see a more openly leftist message. I've seen a lot of excellent mods for the original Half Life and there are plenty of resources out there for this game in particular, the same goes for Doom and Quake.

[BogdanV]

Aspiring video game makers group maybe?

Yes, but I thought on placing the thread here so that it would have a broader audience, as I'd like to know the opinions both from the player's perspective and from the "aspiring video game maker's" perspective.

Anyway, so the main plot would be a revolution/rebellion...
As much as it has been overused before, I think I'll go with a Red Faction-like idea, with a more open rebellion, more emphasis on collective, mass movements and with mother Earth stepping in to help... the local cappies, with mass media disinformation and maybe a echo of the rebellion on Earth itself.
Actually, the Mars colony and Earth can work like 3rd world countries (Mars) and western countries (Earth), with colony workers exploited like hell and with a army of bureaucratic consumerists on Earth and over all these people, the media, preaching on the "Earth way of life".

Anyway, I'll keep you up-to-date with my actions. I'll maybe post a quick render sometime soon.

[ComradeOm]

All Power to the Soviets!

It is October 1917 and the Russian proletariat is on the verge of the greatest event in the history of the world! Take on the role of a Petrograd worker as you live through these momentous days and fight for the international socialist revolution


Missions:

1: Tutorial. Lenin has returned from exile! You must escort him to the Central Committee meeting at Sukhanov's apartment

2: The counter-revolution has reared its treacherous head! On hearing that the Petrograd garrisons have sworn loyalty to the city's Soviet, the dastardly Kerensky has launched an all out offensive against the workers' movement. Militiamen and cadets have occupied the Trud Printing Presses and shut down the printing of revolutionary papers. This cannot be tolerated! Join the Litovsky Regiment as they liberate the presses and allow the river of truth to flow freely again

3: Government forces are attempting to draw the bridges across the Neva in order to isolate the city centre for working class districts. They must not succeed! Lead a detachment of armed workers to the Liteiny Bridge and repulse those Kornilovites from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. No repeat of the July Days!

4: The revolution gathers pace but Tsarist officers are calling for support from the countryside. Support a detachment of soldiers from the Keksgolmsky Regiment as they defend the central telegraph office from Kerensky's cadets. Then join the Izmailovsky Guards Regiment as they seize Baltic Station. Petrograd will soon be ours!

5: It is almost time to cut the head off the poisonous snake of counter-revolution. Help take the General Staff buildings and capture the traitorous Generals Kishkin, Bagratuni, Paradelov, Palchinsky, and Rutenburg. These Kornilovites must be taken dead or alive!

6: Preparations are underfoot to storm the Winter Palace - that bastion of the counter-revolution. However comrades Blagonravov and Antonov cannot find a red lamp in order to signal the final and decisive assault on the Russian bourgeoisie. Fight your way to the Peter and Paul Fortress to provide these comrades with the necessary lamp and inform them that the assault must begin immediately!

7: Storm the Winter Palace in the company of Red Guards, Petrograd soldiers, and Kronstadt sailors. All the might of the Russian proletariat shall be brought to bear on Kerensky's fortress. Fight past the dreaded Women's Battalion of Death and arrest the counter-revolutionary ministers as they plot their final stand. All power to the soviets!

[fatpanda]

i dunno...how about switching sides?
playing russians/chinese/cubans etc. and shooting americans sort of thing.

[BogdanV]

Thanks for your ideas comrades! The Russian Revolution idea is a good one, but I'm afraid that its a far too complex project for me to handle alone.
I'd get my ass flamed if I get the slightest of details wrong, also, I don't think I'll have access to enough resources in order to get a accurate reproduction of Petrograd/Stalingrad/St.Petersburg's main historical sites (mostly, its a matter of photos of the areas and buildings of importance).
As for characters, weapons, misc. stuff, that shouldn't be a problem.

Also, for the switching sides idea, it would be a good one, but most of these armed movements have ended with "degenerated workers states" rather than genuine, free socialist states.

[BogdanV]

As far as I know, lack of space between sentences causes more eye damage than the usage of enter. I appreciate your sarcasm, but I would appreciate it even more if you would explicitly tell me whats wrong and why, regarding my writing (oh and lets stay on-topic please).
As for the rest of your message, I don't know... I hate flammable materials.

[BogdanV]

I went for a Mars rebellion idea. Anyway, attached is a concept of Me (Mars Extractions) Corp.'s colony on Mars. Sorry I can't post a link as I'm not allowed yet.

[Random Precision]

As far as I know, lack of space between sentences causes more eye damage than the usage of enter. I appreciate your sarcasm, but I would appreciate it even more if you would explicitly tell me whats wrong and why, regarding my writing (oh and lets stay on-topic please).

He's not making fun of you, but rather a certain global moderator who happens to go to Oxford. Comrade Joe, please try desperately to stay on topic.

[MarxSchmarx]

A civilization iv mod with Russian/Spanish/Chinese civil war or something really lefty like Guevara in the Congo would be pretty cool and easy to make.

Only you'd have to prevent changing civics because it would make no sense for e.g. the bolsheviks to become a Taoist theocracy.

[BogdanV]

Hmm.. well, I could try and make a mission in Rise of Nations where you could play with Che Guevara, make a militant movement and liberate latin countries.
Actually, it could be expanded as a "Conquer the World"-style campaign with the map of South America and you could start with the Cuban Revolution.

[Dóchas]

you could have two story lines runnig at the same time with different characters so you could do a mission in russia but then something goes down in cuba so you have to do few few mssions there as well

[BogdanV]

Anyway, what do you think of the Mars rebellion idea ? Or is it a overdone subject ?

[BogdanV]

Ok, I made a simple, kinda basic scenario for Thrones&Patriots over the Cuban rebellion of 26th July 1953.
You start with 2 infantry units and a couple of partisans. Your objectives are to liberate Bayamo and Santiago and destroy the Government Troop's barracks and forces in these cities. You may also encounter some resistance from the local garrisons.

PS: Since I can't post links or attach a archive of the scenario, how am I supposed to upload it ? (probably it goes against rules to falsely rename the archive in order to upload it)

[Salabra]

All Power to the Soviets!

It is October 1917 and the Russian proletariat is on the verge of the greatest event in the history of the world! Take on the role of a Petrograd worker as you live through these momentous days and fight for the international socialist revolution


Missions:

1: Tutorial. Lenin has returned from exile! You must escort him to the Central Committee meeting at Sukhanov's apartment

2: The counter-revolution has reared its treacherous head! On hearing that the Petrograd garrisons have sworn loyalty to the city's Soviet, the dastardly Kerensky has launched an all out offensive against the workers' movement. Militiamen and cadets have occupied the Trud Printing Presses and shut down the printing of revolutionary papers. This cannot be tolerated! Join the Litovsky Regiment as they liberate the presses and allow the river of truth to flow freely again

3: Government forces are attempting to draw the bridges across the Neva in order to isolate the city centre for working class districts. They must not succeed! Lead a detachment of armed workers to the Liteiny Bridge and repulse those Kornilovites from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. No repeat of the July Days!

4: The revolution gathers pace but Tsarist officers are calling for support from the countryside. Support a detachment of soldiers from the Keksgolmsky Regiment as they defend the central telegraph office from Kerensky's cadets. Then join the Izmailovsky Guards Regiment as they seize Baltic Station. Petrograd will soon be ours!

5: It is almost time to cut the head off the poisonous snake of counter-revolution. Help take the General Staff buildings and capture the traitorous Generals Kishkin, Bagratuni, Paradelov, Palchinsky, and Rutenburg. These Kornilovites must be taken dead or alive!

6: Preparations are underfoot to storm the Winter Palace - that bastion of the counter-revolution. However comrades Blagonravov and Antonov cannot find a red lamp in order to signal the final and decisive assault on the Russian bourgeoisie. Fight your way to the Peter and Paul Fortress to provide these comrades with the necessary lamp and inform them that the assault must begin immediately!

7: Storm the Winter Palace in the company of Red Guards, Petrograd soldiers, and Kronstadt sailors. All the might of the Russian proletariat shall be brought to bear on Kerensky's fortress. Fight past the dreaded Women's Battalion of Death and arrest the counter-revolutionary ministers as they plot their final stand. All power to the soviets!

You know, this would make a damn good RPG too!

[Stranger Than Paradise]

Shit that sounds good. It could be part RPG part action.

[BayouRebel]

I'm glad someone brought this up.

Most games are clearly sympathetic to imperialist interests. Personally I'd rather play as the OpFor/Spetznaz than the USMC in COD4 and the insurgents instead of the army in Insurgency. How long before you got to play as a Red Army soldier in a game? And they make special efforts to show the Red Army as especially brutal (COD:World at War comes to mind) but never show the many war crimes committed by the other Allies? (for instance, insisting on bombing non-military targets in France, Belgium, and Germany in the name of "liberation"). War is hell, no matter what your ideology. It makes good people do horrible things.

I've actually started a totally not serius little facebook group I called the Marxist League of Gamers and Developers. I'd like to right tongue-in-cheeck reviews of games and rank them on their progressiveness vs. reactionary-ness.

I've had an idea for a game that was inspired by the GTA/Godfather franchise. Imagine you have a collection of large cities populated with NPCs and structures (lke garages, fuel stations, hospitals, police stations, barracks, housing, bridges, schools, etc). Story wise, say this game takes place right after a huge economic crash and the start of a new series of large wars (Russia vs. Central Asia/China. US vs. S. America/Mid East. Europe with America/Russia etc). Things are really instable, governments start to break down.

Now say you have a dynamic "guild" system where players can make groups if they have at least (to chose randomly) 10 friends. This group can take and hold territory, and this territory grants them special powers. The bigger and more successful your group is, the more NPCs it will attract, and hte bigger your economy and skill set grows, so you can train at higher level NPCs that show up. For instance:

The All People's United Front (say 34 members) seizes control of a police station and a grocery store and also controls a park. With the police station, the dozen or so NPCs that the group's reputation has generated will have access to body armor and handguns, making an NPC guard force. The Police Station also has a radio which can broadcast propaganda, affecting more NPCs and bringing some in.

The group decides to turn the park into a garden and the grocery store gives them a bonus to their economy in conjunction with the garden, so they can support even more NPCs that their propaganda brings in. The police station also acts as a holding cell for other enemy NPCs, and while in custody the enemy group loses them and you gain intelligence from them, revealing places on your world map.

There will be a lot of NPCs in the game (like in GTA and the Godfather game) going about their business as best they can. And you could work out an alliance system so the APUF could ally with the Red Guard and the International Brigades and team up against the Ron Paul Brigade or whatever (since this game wouldn't be exlusively left-wing. No conflict would be boring :p. Plus I would get to take out all my frusteration at my anarcho capitalist friends when they argue ridiculous garbage with me).

This would be a really complex game, but fun as all hell! Can you imagine piling into a big truck with your friends, rolling down the road on the way to an enemy warehouse to blow it up?

Much easier thing to do is mod HL2. You could make a US Army/NATO vs. International Liberation Front, either as a standard 1:1 class game (rifleman:rifleman, machine gunner:machine gunner, sniper:sniper etc) or be more varied (ILF gets IEDs, a cloaking skill to simulate ambush from cover. NATO gets an airstrike and body armor). I had an idea where you could set up special buildings using a laptop or something in the game to make it a little unique, which would grant you more special abilities.

[New Tet]

I'm glad someone brought this up.

Most games are clearly sympathetic to imperialist interests. Personally I'd rather play as the OpFor/Spetznaz than the USMC in COD4 and the insurgents instead of the army in Insurgency. How long before you got to play as a Red Army soldier in a game? [...]

Vietcong 2 lets you play as a Vietnamese insurgent.

[ComradeOm]

You know, this would make a damn good RPG too!Indeed. Just replace the tutorial level with "Find 10 cogs to fix the printing press" :nods:

[Tatarin]

Hmm, Half-Life and Half-Life 2 shouldn't be so hard to modify. The hard part is programming and models, which I tried and that's why we're in a depression right now.

Star Wars Rebellion can be modified quite easily, it is almost exclusively painted pictures in 256 colors, though the space ship models are still there. And the game isn't that popular, and over 10 years old or so :P ....

Then there is the game Freedom Fighters which should be modifieable somehow, and wouldn't really require much; just some changes in models, textures and sound and it would be all set, at least the computer version.

[Sarah Palin]

I was thinking Grand Theft Auto esque in that you roam around with weapons at your disposal and there are really no boundaries, but instead of running around killing innocent people, it's a leftist revolution.

[amandevsingh]

I like that one^

Should be able to make lots of decisions for yourself and have can play many guerrilla roles

[Sarah Palin]

It has to be made! Such a fun idea to play around with.

[MarxSchmarx]

I was thinking Grand Theft Auto esque in that you roam around with weapons at your disposal and there are really no boundaries, but instead of running around killing innocent people, it's a leftist revolution.


There has to be some kind of bigger picture, some mystery to make the plot interesting. Perhaps the hook should be that instead of working your way up the criminal underworld to satisfy a personal vendetta, you work your way up the revolutionary vanguard cell or something. That would add another layer that I think makes the GTA franchise work instead of being some one hit nwonder.

[Salabra]

What about this?

http://www.gnomeslair.com/2006/01/board-game-review-class-struggle.html (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2005/07/class_struggle_.html)

Recently, my father and I were going through some of his old papers - we came across the "Beginners' Rules" for this game.

Although lifelong socialists, my parents never owned this game - I'm now trying to buy it, 'cos it sounds like a hoot!

[Kukulofori]

Just give Sid Meier's Colonization a postgame where the goal is an overthrow of the bourgeois state established in phase 1 and maybe industrialisation or something.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

GTA but instead of being set in America its set in europe and you play as one of those anarchists who thought it was progressive it run around commiting crimes.

[Killfacer]

Epic space battles between giant bonehead mega battle space ships and heavy anti-fa battle cruisers?

[Manifesto]

A fighting game like that of Super Smash Bros. and change characters to left and right historical figures and modify moves so it makes sense.

[Kukulofori]

Sorry man but that's not gonna make sense no matter what.

[Manifesto]

Yeah true but it would be too hard to have a wide seletion of characters if you go Soul Caliber style.

[Killfacer]

Mortal Kombat i think. When you die Stalin says "YOUR SOUL IS MINE"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqbjDbnBWgo