| From: | "S.F. Eley" <gt6877c@*****.GATECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Trideo Games (was Re: Off topic) |
| Date: | Sat, 16 Sep 1995 04:23:58 -0400 |
> [ . . . ] And, of course,
> a "Shadowrunners" game, but it would be about as popular as those
"Real
> Cop" shooting gallery-type games are today...
Uh-oh. You've just given me an idea... >8->
Here's a couple of elements I was tossing around in my head today. If it
seems interesting, let me know and I can maybe turn it into an article
for NERPS.
(Caveat: I don't have _Shadowbeat_ yet. It's on my "To buy" list. If I
say something about trid that's just plain wrong, someone PLEASE correct
me. Thanks.)
TRIDEO GAMES
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trideo games are the direct descendant of the youth-sweeping "video games"
phenomenon of the late twentieth century, keeping the same basic principles
but refining them with trid holographic displays and improved graphics and
control devices.
HISTORY:
Video arcade games with mirror-based or split-perspective "3-D" displays first
appeared on the market in 1988, but achieved limited success due to their high
costs and technical drawbacks. Virtual reality gaming was prototyped at
about the same time, but kept a limited market until 1997, when the 3-D
helmet-based VR game "Cyber Commando" was released to arcades at an
affordable price. On the home game front, Nintendo's "Virtual Boy" set the
foundations for home virtual reality in 1995 but failed to achieve wide
success until the color version was released in late 1996. Varying game
standards emerged and competed for several years, and were finally eliminated
by the Sony "V-World" package in 1999. The V-World projected both games and
3-D motion pictures onto a "holographic" mirrored surface, and became the
universal standard from which trideo later emerged. Arcade producers were
quick to incorporate this home technology into their game machines, using
more complex display processors and specialized control devices to compete
with the home market. The first "real trideo" game, "MegaBlaster,"
was
released at arcades in April 2008.
TODAY'S TRIDEO GAME:
The standard trideo booth is a rectangular box about 1.5 meters square base
and 2.5 meters tall. The control device is usually a trackball and array of
buttons, a fiber-linked dataglove or pair of gloves, or some combination of
both. More sophisticated games have simply a "sensor space" where the
player moves his or her hands, detecting the motion with a laser array.
The trid display is a space about 0.8 meters cubed immediately above the
control device. Plastic panels usually extend out from the game surface and
around the sides and top of the player. Some consoles have a complete booth
enclosure. This protection is partly to shield the display and player from
noise and glare, and partly to prevent bystanders from easily watching the
game in progress. (Game companies have discovered they make more money if
a person has to play the game in order to see it.)
Arcade trideo game costs run anywhere between 0.5 nuyen and 2 nuyen per
game, depending on the game's age and sophistication. They used to cost as
much as 5 =Y=, but the advent of simgames ran trideo game prices down as
"yesterday's technology." Home trideo game chips cost between 15 and 60 =Y=,
and are available for the Fuchi "Game Master" system (225 =Y=), or the
cheaper but less popular Mistuhama "Trideo Warrior" console (100 =Y=).
Personal computers usually have flat screens, and hence don't get used as
often for game playing.
Despite the increased availability of simgames, trideo games still have a
loyal following among young people. Simgames are not yet advanced enough to
provide more than basic interaction, and home "intersim" players are too
slow and low-detail for the fast action and high-intensity graphics that
make trideo games popular.
RULES:
In Shadowrun, Second Edition terms, trideo games are played using the
"Trideo" concentration of the "Games" skill. Specific games are
considered
specializations of the Trideo concentration. The Games skill is separated
from Intelligence on the Skill Web by three dots, fitting just above
"Computer Theory" on the chart on page 69, SRII.
Trideo game skill is most often developed and practiced by pre-adolescent or
adolescent boys. Trideo game playing requires regular practice, both to
keep reflexes sharp and keep up with the "state of the art." For each year
in which the character does not play trideo games on a regular basis (i.e.,
an average of once weekly), subtract 1 from the character's Trideo skill
concentration. This does not reduce overall Games skill.
Also, trideo game players tend to see the Matrix as a great big trideo game.
In some ways, it is. If a decker character has the Trideo Games
concentration, at the GM's discretion add one-half of his or her Trideo
rating to the Hacking Pool to reflect his or her reflexes and "game playing"
abilities in the Matrix.
* * *
SHADOWRUN:
First released as an arcade trid in 2049, the trideo game "Shadowrun"
has achieved moderate popularity due to its combination of action and
role-playing. It's not as fast as "SpeedStalker," and doesn't have the
wiz effects of "Toxic Revenge," but most trid players think it's still
a pretty slottin' game until they've solved it four or five times. It
costs 1 =Y= to play in most parlors. A home version, which supports
network play in cooperative or "runner vs. runner" modes, is available
for the Fuchi Game Master.
On slotting her nuyen, the game player gets to choose between being a mage,
decker, rigger or street sam. Each has specialized abilities, and varying
levels of combat skill. The player may accept these "archetypes" or
customize certain aspects of the character, within fixed limits. When she
has finalized her character, she finds herself in charge of a shadowrunner
team -- or, in network play, an equal part of a team. Her character has the
statistics chosen, a standard graphical image, and has the ability to take
10 "boxes" of damage before succumbing to a Deadly wound. (Some trid
players grumble about this oversimplification of real life. But hey, it's
just a game.) In most cases, the player has the option of slotting another
nuyen immediately for a "healing spell" to play again. Some damage cannot
be healed normally, and some Deadly wounds do not present an opportunity to
continue play.
The game opens with "Mr. Johnson" talking to the team, and offering them a
mission. The exact mission and pay rates vary according to the player's
negotiation and random chance. The four basic "mission archetypes" are:
1.) An infiltration and data theft at Ramahaki Industries.
2.) A "hostile extraction" of a corporate executive from Fushirotech.
3.) To stop another shadowrun group from succeeding at a seek-and-destroy
run against Sukihiro.
4.) To reconnotier a small warehouse being run as a shelter by a charitable
organization called Mankind Together. This initially seems like the most
boring run, so most first-time players turn it down, but later in the
game, when the organization turns out to be run by hostile mages
controlled by alien technology, it becomes the most challenging.
The player's character then utilizes her talents, and organizes the other
members of her team, to gather data and complete the run. Most runs are open-
ended to an extent; the runners can achieve or fail to achieve specific
goals, but the game continues until the player's character dies. There are
numerous opportunities for this in almost every encounter. Trid players
claim that, on average, it takes about 10-20 =Y= on the arcade machine to
complete a specific run "until ya get all the tricks." While the multiple
branches within each run theoretically offer great replayability, most home
players get tired of the game after successfully completing each of the four
basic missions.
It is worth noting that when the game was released for the home market in
2050, the American Council of Parents placed it on their censure list,
claiming that it was dangerous for "glamorizing and popularizing the vile
deeds of shadowrunners" and was "highly unsuitable for young, vocationally-
minded individuals." This surprised no one, and no game vendor took the
protest seriously. "Shadowrun" had become the forty-seventh trideo game on
the ACP's list.
