New firefighting Wii title (new info!)

First I want to say congrats on this, and also thanks for coming here and posting the way you did. It definitely takes time and shows good faith. I think you will get more support from us at full price then not.

Also its really interesting to see you involved with this community and posting responses.

I would like to make a small suggestion for you beyond all the great ones above. I am 28 and a lot of my Friends have children at this point. One thing I noticed is young kids will watch the same cartoon over and over. Also if they can actually play a game, they will play it over and over regardless if it has any depth. With that being said.

I think it would be cool to have a level or two of very simplistic firefighting. Make it in a sub menu or something not actually part of the "real" game. I think it would and could serve multiple purposes. First kids love firefighters, they love the truck, and at fares/amusement parks they love the rides. If I knew going into the game that there was a mode I could put on where my young friends and family members could just put out fires (and understand it) I would be much more inclined to purchase it.

An example of this is with the latest Shrek release (wii). My cousin called me to say that his 4 year old daughter will not stop playing it... The reason is in the top corner it shows her what to do during the game so she understands what to do without her parents. She cant really pick up and play Wario Ware as she doesnt know how to read yet. With Shrek they can turn it on and pop that in and for a few hours she is entertained. Most adults may not have as much interest in the Shrek game. Thats where an inclusion of a simplistic firefighting could serve multiple audiences. The parents buy the game for themselves and keep it (instead of trading it in) for their children and the "young firefighter mode".

A few people will cringe at me for saying this but I think some of the broader audience of the Wii would appreciate a "child mode" like mentioned above. Again I think if its kept out of the normal game and put into a sub menu it would work to increase sales. Also if in a sub menu I think it would not slow down the more advanced players. Putting it as a beginning level would not work the same as the parents of the child would have to come out and start them over, as well as worry that the child may save over their saved games etc.


Just a small suggestion that no one has really implemented yet that I have seen.
 
Roland, welcome. Your firefighting game is a great idea. One that is out of the box and could put all those Wii longevity naysayers in their place. It is ideas like these from designers like you that will give the wii legs like the DS. I applaud you and your team for trying something out of the ordinary. I'm looking forward to seeing it come to fruition. I also think that it is great that you are communicating with the fans on the forums. I love when I see a developer that does that over on the Xbox forums.

Snake - That's a good idea. I see no problem with it being a seperate mode as long as it doesn't interfere with the bulk of the game that is geared toward an older audience, if indeed it is. This would be perfect for the newfound Wii general audience.

I also have to agree with the poster above about missions outside of the "fire" realm. General FF training, learning to drive the truck, Traumas, ambulence runs to the hospital, rescuing animals out of trees, storm drains etc., car accident scenes, washing the trucks :lol:, installing car seats properly ... the possibilities are huge.

I especially like the idea of figuring out your suit and getting it on. At first it sounded silly, but let me expound on it a bit. Imagine one training mission dedicated to getting your suit on as fast as you can and your time is reflected in how fast you get to the fire. So essentially you would be able to replay this mission until you get 100% so that you get to the fires faster. So anything less, say 80% speed hurts your chances at rescuing someone or putting out a fire that got out of control because you don't know how to get dressed. :lol: You would be stuck at your percentage, hindering your ability during missions until you master the technique.
 
Good morning guys,

Wow, lots of great, well thought-out responses since I last checked in. You guys wanna design the game for me? Sweet!

I hate to be a little elusive with my responses and answers, but since it is still so early in the process, I really can't talk about all that many specifics. One reason being is that it is still really early, and there are quite a few different ways specific elements could go depending on what we feel works and doesn't work. But the other more practical reason is that we don't want other devs to be able to take our ideas and poop out a cheap, no frills game in 6 months time, killing our chances. You'd be amazed how many vulture-thinking studios (and publishers) there are out there. I do promise though that once we get further along in our development that you'll hear about real specifics.

Having said that, I think I'm good to respond to a few of these posts. When we first sat down and discussed the scope and overall goals with this project, and looking at the Wii's demographics in general, we knew we wanted to try to make a game that everyone could enjoy. I think the Lego Star Wars games are a great example of that kind of mentality. One exec at a large publisher told us that this was one of the only games he's been pitched to that he could sit down with his 6 year old and both have a good time with it, and that was a great relief to us. I do think it's much easier said then done though to create a game that 6 year olds and 26 years olds will want to play, but that is the goal. Whether we do that through a separate game mode that might dumb down the controls and make the challenges easier or have the fire AI tick slower (kind of what Viva Pinata's simplified mode did) or just have separate "arena-like" areas that would allow people and kids to just hop into a "sandbox-like" building, it is something we're going to do. Of course, every feature added takes time, so we'll constantly be juggling the work vs. worth-it debate.

And quite a few of you bring up a point that nearly every publisher has also brought up, and that's with the scope of the game's activities. When people first hear of a firefighter game, the first image is a dude with a hose spraying a fire. But the reality of the profession is a lot broader than that, as many of you pointed out. Rescuing people, protecting property and the environment are generally the 3 tenants to firefighters. I can assure you that the player will be doing a very wide range of activities. Without going into specifics, putting out fires is going to be only one of a dozen+ things you'll be doing. CPR with the Wii-mote anyone?

I love this thread...it's a lot of fun to chat with you guys like this, and honestly, it's helped us justify a lot of the design that we were on the fence about. I know you guys are gamers, but I thought the majority would only be able to see what makes a good hardcore game. But it's now very clear to me that you guys can also see the broader picture.
 
[quote name='roland13x']
AmigoOne - Yeah, I've tried to get my hands on every firefighter game I could. I'd LOVE to find an arcade that still had a working copy of the Sega game (Burning Rangers)...anyone see one in the last 5 years?[/QUOTE]

Isn't Burning Rangers that weird action game on the Saturn? I think the arcade game is called Brave Firefighter, and I believe they still have a machine at the Gameworks here in Tempe, AZ. They don't change out the games often. :)

Is the core gameplay going to be much like that game? Will the fire damage be more realistic in that it spreads in an appropriate manner and does actual damage to the environment?
 
[quote name='roland13x']Jud - you may be very pleasantly surprised.

Jer7583 - Thanks for the support, very much appreciated. You do bring up a very good question, but I think you have to look at the results. For example, I think Cooking Mama is the perfect example of a Wii title that in no way should be full priced at $50. I would like to buy it myself as I want to play the multiplayer with my girlfriend, but I can wait til the inevitable price drop. Now you take a look at the NPD sales numbers, in 6 weeks, it sold nearly 75,000 copies. Now that might not seem like a lot, but for a quirky title like that with a bare minimum production and marketing budget, that's a nice sum. And that's just in the US. I guarantee that this game is a huge money maker for Majesco. Would it have sold more at a lower cost? Probably, but enough to make up for the $10 or $20 difference? Apparently their marketing dept. doesn't think so.

What it comes down to is that the market will dictate the price of a game, or games in general, and right now, $50 is that price. Hell, with the increased price of 360/PS3 games, $50 feels like a somewhat bargain. That's pretty messed up, huh?

AmigoOne - Yeah, I've tried to get my hands on every firefighter game I could. I'd LOVE to find an arcade that still had a working copy of the Sega game (Burning Rangers)...anyone see one in the last 5 years?[/quote]


The Dave & Buster's in Pittsburgh, PA has it.
 
Roland,

I mentioned your game to a person that I work with that is a Volunteer firefighter for his home town and he was really excited about the concept. He mentioned how disappointed he was in the PS2 game, so he has some high hopes for this one.

Even I'm excited about playing through some of the scenarios that you're describing.

Rescuing kittens from a tree would rule... as long as you can use the big hose to get them out of there. hehe.
 
my older brother is a firefighter, and he just played my wii for the first time this week... he wants to get one for himself and his kids, and i'm sure he'd love a game like this...

so consider us both excited!
 
This is so great, totally the type of thread that keeps me checking CAG. It's nice to see you engaging with everyone and I'm definitely already excited about the game.

What I think would be really fun is mini-games or things to do between missions like blood pressure test day, firefighters playing poker during dry spells, charity weenie roast, that sort of thing. Even if they're just cutscenes it could be entertaining. You could do so much that it's gotta be hard to narrow it down to the best stuff.

On top of how fun this looks, it will also be a benefit to gaming in general. A lot of the nanny state haters can't possibly say anything bad about a game where you fight fires and rescue kitties.
 
I wonder if I can get my dad to get me a big old fire hose so I can duct tape the Wiimote to it for this game. Throw on some old gear of his, it'd make the game amazing.
 
Hey everyone!

I know it's been a long time since I've updated this thread, but it's amazing how long things take to move in this "fast moving" industry.

As it turns out, we're still shopping the firefighting game. We actually had a deal in place with a fairly large publisher. Had the contract in hand, working out all the little details. In the 11th hour, it turns out their financing fell through, so there goes the deal. Very, very crappy, but in the end, we might be better off, as there are about a half-dozen other publishers who are now interested.

However, in the meantime, one of my concepts just got the greenlight from another major publisher. We're going to be working on a WiiWare title, and our goal is to be ready for that platform's launch (which is still up in the air, though March 08 is the assumed date). I'm really excited about this one....I'll give you all the details once things get more finalized.

Which brings me to this....we're looking for a couple of really talented people to come aboard. More specifically, we'd like to bring on an experienced gameplay/tools programmer and an experienced, very well-rounded artist (who can do models/environments/characters/animations/particle and visual effects). When I say "experienced", I mean at least 2+ years in the industry and at least 2 shipped titles. These are lead-lite positions. Oh yeah, and the studio is in Santa Monica, so locals would be ideal.

So if any of you would like more info on these positions, or know someone who might, hit me up with a PM. Please, serious inquiries only. We're under the gun right now, and really need to ramp up as soon as possible.

As always, thanks everyone for your support!
 
I was just thinking about this thread the other day. Glad to hear an update, and hopefully everything works out with the Firefighting game!

Can't wait to hear more about the WiiWare title. Hopefully if you find some time (and aren't under an NDA to prevent it), you could give us some insight as to how WiiWare development differs from Wii development, if at all.

I always love to read behind the scenes stuff.

Good luck!
 
Hey evilmax17,

Right now, there is a staggering amount of no-info on the WiiWare specs. There's just not too much to say right now, because they haven't been very public with info on the service. The only thing we know is the footprint size limits, which is pretty close to 50MB.

The lack of info makes me wonder if they'll hit their launch window.
 
I forgot all about this thread, it feels like forever ago but it's only been a couple of months.

Glad to see things are still moving forward, perhaps slowly, but still moving. Good luck with your WiiWare title as well.
 
I like evilmax was literally just thinking about this thread this past weekend. Glad to hear its still out there and good luck.
 
[quote name='Snake2715']I like evilmax was literally just thinking about this thread this past weekend. Glad to hear its still out there and good luck.[/QUOTE]

:lol: Same here.
 
I'm with the 'recently thinking of this thread' group. I'm excited to hear things are coming together, roland! I'm also happy to hear further support for WiiWare, especially from someone as passionate about games as you and your crew. Keep us posted man!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top