Is there a market for a modern sniper game?

[jtvang125]

Sorta like the sniper missions from CoD4 but more realistic. They'll be urban environments as well as vast open areas and jungles with some missions requiring you to take 1000+ meter shots. You'll have to range your target and then adjust for windage and elevation. Nothing too extreme where it will no longer be fun but not too simple either. And of course a modern engine that can support a variety of environments in great detail.

The only sniper game I know of is Sniper Elite but it fails in almost all departments.

 

[Kelvrick]

I typed a long answer but decided on a better response.

No

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Wouldn't a 'more realistic' sniper mission amount to bucketloads of 'wait'?

 

[Maleficus]

realism = yawn 99.9999999999999999999999% of the time.

 

[Dman877]

You mean I can't just flip to my AWP on the run and snipe someone at three hundred yards in the head after aiming for .5 seconds? Not interested.

 

[ther00kie16]

.5 seconds? you'll be dead after .25

 

[Pia]

Market for a full-scale game, no. A realistic ballistics mod into an existing game would find players just like other simulations do. I'd certainly try it out. The real trouble is that the stuff that goes into a good sniping game, while real subtle, is also really demanding for the engine and hardware, and hard to tweak.

Optimally, there'd be enough terrain and crap that it's possible to actually hide and advance unseen. Also, the engine should support wind, so you'd see it from vegetation, flags and smoke. The wind should vary over location and not just time, it matters for those >1km shots.

I have no idea what current engine would be best suited to this. Maybe Crysis, with careful map design that puts a lot more crap on the ground, more micro-scale terrain features so that you blend in better, and flags with canned animation planted all over with modded wind effect. I think the trees are solid, can't get them to react.

 

[Pia]

Originally posted by: PhatoseAlpha
Wouldn't a 'more realistic' sniper mission amount to bucketloads of 'wait'?

He said "nothing too extreme where it'll no longer be fun". I take that to mean the waiting and the crawling around (both of which can take several hours in some conditions IRL) would be cut down with level design, and you'd play the parts where the action is.

Even a highly realistic game with little allowances made in level design could be a lot more tolerable if the game/engine itself allowed speeding up time until something happens, and maybe some kind of autopilot where you decide a route you take to the position and then speed up time, only to be dropped back into the driver's seat at the destination or if there's enemy contact.

 

[mindcycle]

I'd play it. I enjoy the atmosphere of games over the action elements most of the time. If that meant sneaking around, finding a good position, setting up your shot, calculating wind, etc.. sounds like fun to me. Gamers (and people in general) have super short attention spans nowadays. That's why action games on consoles are so popular.. You get to sit on your couch where you are used to watching thousands of commercials, music videos, reality shows, etc.., and basically re-live that same tweaked out experience in another form.

Give me a good free-roaming game, like the Gothic series or Stalker, and i'm happy.

 

[Kelvrick]

I don't think the OP realizes what he's asking when he says 1000+ meter shots. A couple hundred, yea, but at the 1000+, it gets very complicated with very tons of details that go into each shot. At those ranges, you won't really be shooting, but more dropping a bullet on them very quickly.

 

[Stoneburner]

back in high school they had games for the old ti-85's and one was a simple game where you aimed artillery at an object based on wind speeds and geography. It held attention pretty well. Then again, it was going up against a calculus lecture

 

[jjones]

A few years ago I wanted someone to do a UT2k4 multiplayer sniper/assassination mod. Something like one of the maps I played from the old Delta Force Land Warrior game. You could have a couple of game modes: 1 infiltration/assassination player goes in to kill a bot/target supported by several bodyguard/hunter players. Or have all players go in after the bot/target and avoid/kill the other players. Lots of stealth and sniper tactics.

 

[gorobei]

there's a sniper mod for BF2. Plenty of bullet drop and 1000+ shots, but not entirely fun since it's hard to find good concealment with the sparse foliage in the maps.

 

[Coldkilla]

Realistic Ballistics, 1000m shots, cities = Arma. Played a sniper match last night, PVP, best kill: 1300m.

 

[novasatori]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla
Realistic Ballistics, 1000m shots, cities = Arma. Played a sniper match last night, PVP, best kill: 1300m.

I was about to say this.

ArmA w/realistic mods such as windage/elevation is fucking awesome.

 

[bullbert]

> Is there a market for a modern sniper game?

Well, according to your elected Congressmen, the only market for a modern sniper game is to train terrorists. The NSA and the other 3 letter orgs are actively wasting your tax money searching the internet for 12 year old playing multiplayer on some server, whether here or abroad, since Congress fears for their loss of power more than they fear for loss of their constituents liberties.

It is still legal to virtually kill all the virtual Nazis with virtual 60 year old weapons, but they are actively attempting to illegalize any mutiplayer game in a modern scenario where you or you buddies have to play the bad guys (aka 'terrorist') since you are OBVIOUSLY actively training for some future coop to overthrow DC and restore the Constitution.

So to answer your question: YES! But it is currently a very small market. But be sure to code your game to run on the $99 and $199 laptops that the bleeding hearts are using your tax money to purchase/ship (and provide training/instruction) to the current Terrorist Breeding Ground Countries (aka current 3rd world regions)

edit: fixed a few spelling typos

 

[nakedfrog]

What was that sniper arcade game with the rifle and everything?

 

[Pia]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
What was that sniper arcade game with the rifle and everything?

Silent Scope. I dropped a number of coins in it and it was pretty fun. (Boss running around with the kidnapped girl on shoulder and shooting with RPG, you're being flown around in a chopper and have to make headshots without hitting the girl!) There was also a Silent Scope 2, which had more close-range FPS stuff which obviously didn't fit the game as well. I think SS2 had a gimmick level that was mostly pitch black and you had a night scope, that was fun though.

 

[mindcycle]

Yeah! Sniper Scope. That game kicked ass.