Since the first time I heard about Spy Party I though it was genius, sadly I've never played it(and I don't see that happening in a near future
). So when I saw versus was the theme Spy Party was the first thing that came to my mind. I'll try to make something around the same core mechanic.
How it'll play.You get to be "the system"
or some guy/gal who is against it
. If you are the anti-system guy/gal you should create discomfort between the population. On the other side if you are the system you should identify and eradicate whoever is trying to break you.
How it'll look.I'll try to get some collaboration, my art mostly sucks. I'm thinking about a 2D top view of the whole city.
Creating discomfort between the population.So far I've think of some simple mechanics for it, but I'll keep cracking the idea for some days.
Oral propaganda.- You can situate in a crowded area and start talking out loud. As "The system" you can see guys speaking all over the city, but unless you're really close you can't tell if he's are selling something, crazy or making propaganda.
Written propaganda.- You can give out pamphlets and stuff. It'll probably work like oral propaganda.
Culture jamming.- You can 'vandalize' system's propaganda. At the beginning of the game "the system" will make a motto that you can retort to satirize system's ideas/values.
Those are a couple mechanic ideas. BTW "the system" will also have ways of reduce discomfort for example not letting it motto to be mocked..."the system" will control a cop(or maybe more) and be able to "enforce" (suppress) whoever opposes him. That doesn't mean the guy can just go and kill whoever he suspects, killing innocents will increase discomfort.
When the game ends.When certain level of discomfort is reached you can start a rebellion and break the system. "the system" can win by identifying who is behind everything and killing him/her.
Technical aspects.I'll code it with AS3 but I'm not sure what to use for the back-end. I have experience with sockets in C and PHP and some distributed stuff in erlang but I'll probably use something like player.io or fox server. Suggestions on this regard are welcomed.
Collaborations.Artist.-I can hardly make any decent art.
Musician.- I can make some not-so-bad tunes but I'd prefer someone with a better idea.
If you're interested send me a PM. BTW I'll start coding it by the beginning of February, but i think we should start polishing the game design as soon as possible.
OtherComments and suggestions are welcomed.