Underappreciated Game Environment Themes?

[nicedwar]

We've all seen the fantasy castles with insane proportions, run-down, realistic modern urban environments and most things in between when it comes to game environments. If I wanted to start modeling, texturing and lighting an interesting environment that you've never seen before, what theme(s) would put me on the right track? Maybe an urban fantasy realistic WWII cell-shaded environment?

[rooster]

bog of eternal stench maybe? something from one of those labyrinth/dark chrystal movies, or in that sort of drawn, magical aesthetic.
I think it's not neccecarily the environment that makes the difference though its how you tackle it. maybe you could put a new spin on a tired genre like ww2

[indian_boy]

ww2, with intervention from a civilization of undead who appear in that crater in siberia... and fight to aid the nazis against russia... mwahahah

dunno what im saying here.

but yea... blending two highly dissimilar themes should do the trick.... if u do it right i guess

[Scott_W]

Viva Pinata + Gears of War = win.

[indian_boy]

Scott... afraid not...

its Viva Pinata + Manhunt

[Peris]

tech stuff + aztec stuff
every setpiece from the 1980ies flash gordon movie
roman architecture space station
Giger's concept art for that never made dune movie
logan's run style future dome city

[nicedwar]

Dome city is a good one...

Roman space = http://www.imperatoronline.com/media/

I'm definitely feeling the combining of themes...

How about... a time-traveling ghost train?!?!?!?!omg

[rooster]

tech stuff + aztec is in every metroid game /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[cholden]

The moon. What we went there once and never went back?

[nicedwar]

I just watched the Adventures of Baron Munchausen; that had some pretty hip moon themes.

[dejawolf]

well, i can only think of 2 games which takes place at an exotic island...
90% of games seems to be in some sort of post-apo environment,
aka WW2 big city warzones, gears of war being only one of numerous examples. very few games seems to be set in the countryside however, or on a mountain, hilly area.

there also seems to have been a LOT of techy space-station alien-esque hallway shooters.

i think if you look for something unique, you should start looking first at what is not unique. you'll probably find that most of the themes have already been done to death and back. you're more likely to get away with an evolution, rather than revolution, e.g vastly improve on a theme already present.
oh, and canyons are overused.

mostly environments that require a lot of detail, are regularly underused, such as dense forests. expect to see a lot of them in the near future though. and expect them to expand rapidly in size as technology compete to make the best biggest forest there ever was.

personally, i think more 3-dimensional marshland or rainforest themes would be interesting, where you have to stay above the ground, instead of on it, where dense vegetation would seriously hamper movement.

[pliang]

Yeah its called "Wolfenstein"...

Bladerunner environments for the win :3

[Illusions]

[ QUOTE ]
Scott... afraid not...

its Viva Pinata + Manhunt

[/ QUOTE ]

Not exactly original either...thats called a child's birthday party...unless you are the pinata, and you're out to get candy by smacking the crap out of people...then you have something.

[Pedro Amorim]

what about...a nursing home with vampire old geezers!

[nicedwar]

[ QUOTE ]

personally, i think more 3-dimensional marshland or rainforest themes would be interesting, where you have to stay above the ground, instead of on it, where dense vegetation would seriously hamper movement.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good idea.

[blankslatejoe]

one of most under appreciated game environments I can think of is "Akron, Ohio"

There needs to be more games set there.

[nicedwar]

On it.

[Ryno]

Renaissance Italy. Classical era Greece. Ancient China. The Australian outback. There are lots of cool environments and eras that haven't been explored in real time at all.

[WipEout]

[ QUOTE ]
what about...a nursing home with vampire old geezers!

[/ QUOTE ]

Bubba Ho-Tep!! (http://www.bubbahotep.com/) Although it's a mummy, not a vampire. And the King of B Movies is the King!

[dejawolf]

for classical era greece, theres spartan - total warrior, along with the numerous amounts of greek mythology based games.
ancient china, there was an RTS game based on that, and jade empire. renaissance.. a lot of games has had architecture from that period. which leaves the australian outback.

[MightyPea]

The inside of the human body as seen by a bloodcell/bacteria. with guns.

[CheeseOnToast]

There was an old Rogue Trooper story set in a desert that had been hit by a nuke and fused into glass. When you think about the 500 mph winds that go with a nuclear explosion, could be an interesting place.