How would you do an Aliens Colonial Marines game?

[Number13]

Everyone wants to be a Colonial Marine and kick Alien ass with a pulse rifle or smartgun. I think the Colonial Marines game needs to be a total redo, start over from the ground up.

One of the problems with the game, among a million others was, it wasn't scary. I would make it like a Doom game, first person shooter while still scary. But you also have to work as a unit, think Doom 3, but with more than one character. That could be fun. Also, I'd make it a standalone story, you can probably work in Bishop, but as much as I like Michael Biehn, it was a mistake to try to work in Hicks, unless you retcon 3 and 4. Also, if you're gonna do super Aliens, make them realistic, like Aliens that cocooned in animals. I like the idea of preserving your ammo and health. You have to protect your unit, if one dies that could make the game harder for you, you can still win, but it would be harder. I think the one thing the game did get right, was having to hold up the motion tracker to watch out for Aliens.

That's what I would do. What would you do?

[swarm87]

basically alien isolation but with guns and a squad; as bad as the game was colonial marines had a decent story(WY setting up shop on lv426) so id use elements to make a "sequel" that references the origin facility itself but not the events of the game, just the fact that WY had a facility around the Juggernaut that was overrun when marines  showed up looking for the squad form the Sulaco. As for game play you would have weapons and ammo but youd be on a space station so it might not be the best idea to go on a shooting spree in areas that are the hull and would have to rely on stealth and small arms fire/flamethrowers/IEDs if your not in an interior zone(no windows/not hull). Story wise the game would be a loose sequel to both Isolation and colonial marines that borrows elements of both story and gameplay ;albeit a little more advanced as Id integrate the motion tracker and weapon data(including SM auto tracking) into an AR style HUD similar to the older games but in a way that would make sense in a military application. I would have different Xeno variants made from "the most dangerous animals WY could get their hands on"(wolf, lion, snapping turtle, honey badger, wolverine,etc) and use a combination of both eggmorphing and queen, mostly because id like to see half morphed corpses on the outskirts of the hive. As for the mechanics Id use a similar AI to the one in isolation with elements of the lurker from CM where groups up to five Xenos are actively hunting the squad due to the inheriting a sense of "territory" from the host animals. the main issue would be hammering out a more detailed story but thats pretty a "high level pitch" of what Id do.

sorry if this was longwinded I did try to keep it short but as I have a AS in game design I do tend to ramble on when describing what Id  do for a game.

[THE CITY HUNTER]

AVP Style game with Alien isolation mixed in(maybe separate campaigns?)

[Murfy426]

Where to start on such a subject? Most definitely the setting: As much as I loved the nostalgia of visiting the Sulaco, Hadley's Hope and the Derelict the setting restricted the game too much both in story and gameplay, also there was never any sense of discovery or real imaginative variety. Whether on a planet or a ship (or both) the setting needs to explore new ground and keep the atmosphere as claustrophobic as possible. You don't need enclosed spaces to be claustrophobic either with effective use of lighting and level design you can make open spaces seem as foreboding as any corridor. Imagine a segment where for example your squad has to cross a hanger or warehouse sized room and the only source of light you have are your team's flashlights and your eyes are trained on your motion trackers as your being stalked by multiple aliens that are staying just outside your light's range.
  Story wise we do not need the derelict from LV 426 specifically because if the ship is meant to be a biological bomber why only make one? A great setting would be a planet where like LV 426 there has been a great amount of progression in colonisation with a spaceport positioned above the colony. So in a sense we could have the same kind of setting as Isolation but for certain reasons later in the game the marines are forced from the spaceport down to the colony below which would give way for more open environments and exploration.
For a quick story idea I would have the marine's ship intercept a mysterious ghost ship and investigate it to find the ship filled with aliens, once they clear the ship they track its previous location to the spaceport, scuttle the ship and head to the planet where the chaos will ensue. On the matter of Weyland Yutani and possible human enemies I personally believe yes it should be done but it must be done right. A peek and shoot mechanic much like Farcry 3/4's should be required because it not only gives you a better chance of not being hit but it also helps to immerse you as a player. They cant have the weapon and grenade accuracy of a damn combat android either, make their movement and tactics believable.
  For the Aliens themselves they need to put a great emphasis on the Aliens' AI both in numbers and singularly, they cant just bum rush you constantly from the front, they need to be able to use their environment to their advantage and advance when your back is turned. I would also like theirs to be random spawns too to stop predictability for multiple playthroughs. On the subject of Alien subspecies it must be within a certain degree of faithfulness to the canon (Boiler I'm looking at you! So what, when an alien gets bored and old it suddenly turns into a literal dumb, blind jihadist). Use the planet's indigenous species and the possibilities could be endless as long as they are done with good taste.
On a last note because this is wearing on, the presentation must be akin to Isolation both graphically and with sound design, I simply quote the hive area from Isolation as inspiration. And most important improvement of all, grounded, realistic dialogue with some real emotion and real fear. "Really 'Oorah to Ashes' what the hell is up with that do you bland archetypical marines get a f**king handful of adjusted dollars and a lollipop every time your CO hears you say that!" Sorry really needed to let that last part out.

[Nightlord]

^ Agree with all of that, especially with going to new places in the alien setting.

Personally I would love a CM game in the vein of a rainbow: six with all the squad commands

Spoiler

like ACM was supposed to be

[close]

and also a dash of xcom so permadeath is possible for squad mates.

Also I'd tone down the number of aliens to maybe twenty a level (excluding a couple of set piece hold the line moments), but have each one be as crafty as the alien from Isolation; if not even smarter.

[swarm87]

^ I had the same idea where using certain animals as hosts would affect the behaviors of the xenos with regards to groups of the same type having a "territory"; though I am not sure how this would work IF there is a queen present other than setting the game on a space station with habitation zones like in Isolation or some sort of large sealed lab complex.

[chainsawsquirrel]

I'd have done it like Alien: Isolation, but with a different skin.

I'd have made it so that while you can kill the aliens, they're pretty hard to take down, AND if you do kill one, other aliens in the area (perhaps one, perhaps 2 or 3) will then come out of the vents and come searching for you, and there are infinitely many aliens. You can't clear areas, you can only dodge them and wait until they're gone. Soo, the only real circumstance you're gonna want to be killing them is if they've spotted you and there's no escape. The aliens that come out of the vents to investigate what happened wont really know where you are exactly.

This is, in effect, the same as in Alien: Isolation when you use the flamethrower. What happens when you torch the alien? Well, you never kill it, but it does go away. But it also comes back, and when it does, it's angry. I.e. in both situations, guns are only a temporary and last resort solution to avoiding them. Ammo of course would have to be rare, as well as the weapons themselves. Yes, killing them does make them seem a little more soft and squishy, but when the trade off is that when you kill one, you get 2, or 3, I think this won't be such a loss to the fear factor over all. And of course, they have acid blood, so shooting them at close range with anything but a flamethrower is gonna end badly for you.

I would also make the aliens in A:CM a lot bigger than they were. I'm talking like at least 7ft tall. I'd have made the lurkers basically the same as the alien in Alien: Isolation, and have it be a rare, ELITE class of alien that either pops up just by chance on rare occasion or comes down once you start killing too many aliens. And this Alien is A BOSS, tanky, smart and fast. There would be no crusher alien, that thing was stupid. Boilers however, would be more than welcome to return, they're the one thing GBX did right. Only difference is, which ones are alive and which ones are dead would be random & non-scripted.

I'd make the narrative a little different. I'd make it so that the WY mercenaries on lv426 are much fewer in number, and are effectively survivors much like ur self, rather than an army. You would be stranded on your own on the planetoid at Hadley's hope, and your objective would be to regroup with other marines, then try to take control of ops & set up camp there. You get there, you discover what a terrible idea it was and I can't be bothered to think of what happens next atm.

[THE CITY HUNTER]

Maybe they should stick in what they promised in 2013 about ACM and it could be good.

[Mr. Forest]

• Make it a open world, survival shooter where players need to scavenge supplies to survive.
• Squad based tactics, allowing you to issue commands to the A.I. or play cooperatively with friends.
• Each player/character has a different class/role to play, utilizing different weapons and tools.
• The aliens are weak and easy to take down, but are silent hunters and only openly attack in packs.
• Include a daytime/weather system, effecting how the alien A.I. act.  "They mostly come at night.  Mostly."
• Upgrade system for weapons and skills.  Nothing too wild, the player just progresses over time and are given more efficient abilities.
• Playing through the story opens up new areas/location to explore, even in a area the player went through

[Number13]

These are all great ideas. This is probably my favorite forum I've posted, this is the only one that hasn't come back to bite me.

[Mr. Forest]

• Make it a open world, survival shooter where players need to scavenge supplies to survive.
• Squad based tactics, allowing you to issue commands to the A.I. or play cooperatively with friends.
• Each player/character has a different class/role to play, utilizing different weapons and tools.
• The aliens are weak and easy to take down, but are silent hunters and only openly attack in packs.
• Include a daytime/weather system, effecting how the alien A.I. act.  "They mostly come at night.  Mostly."
• Upgrade system for weapons and skills.  Nothing too wild, the player just progresses over time and are given more efficient abilities.
• Playing through the story opens up new areas/location to explore, even in a area the player went through
• The player can come across multiple locations that can serve as bases of sort, basically rest areas that are safer but can still be rarely attacked.
• Add in side objectives, such as acquiring special equipment or helping/saving people that will return the favor in different ways.  Perhaps there are scavengers who will give you special items periodically throughout the game, or you find more marines who will help add defenses to you bases.
• Wiping out alien hives are very, very risky, but in doing so you can lessen the danger level in a area greatly.
• Weyland Yuntani are in the game, but you can remain allies with them as long as you don't get in their way.  They even have some androids throughout different areas/locations who can end up betraying you if you do get in WY's plans.

Added more ideas to my list.

[Randomizer]

• Customizable weapons to your heart's content while keeping specific classes for multiplayer.
• A Skirmish mode with configurable options, much like AVP Classic 2000's.
• Make several areas (more notable the "Hold _______" scenarios) unique. Doors/vents burst open and the class and number of Aliens is completely random. At times you might face 2 Drones or even a Praetorian.
• A completely different planet and story with a reasonable number of tributes to the "Aliens" movie. Even something simple would serve as a good plot. For example here's my take on it:

- Contact is lost with _________  . Colonial Marines, come to the rescue !
- The marines arrive and do a quick recon mission 'round the colony. This is the change for the mood to settle in.
- Xenomorphs attack and they suffer severe casualties; the number of NPCs aiding the player is drastically reduced from now on.
- Before leaving (and as a consequence nuke the planet from orbit) you are tasked with retrieving several documents of high importance.
- Right as you collect the last document you discover that character ________ is a close friend of WY and has marked the location for specimen collection. He has taken preventive measures to ensure that the Xenomorphs will not be harmed (i.e sabotaged something).
- The protagonist and several of his buddies go hunting for him on the lower levels of the colony, passing near a hive (I said near, not INTO the hive !).
- The protagonist succeeds and the WY sympathizer is killed, along with the corporate dropship sent for a first-time drop.
- More marines have been killed back at the HQ as the Alien Queen is now on full alert; the player will have some trouble in rallying with the other marines and will ultimately have to fight the Alien Queen.
- They leave and nuke gets set off.

END OF STORY