Storm Chasing Video Game

[Jordan Manderfield]

Does anyone else think this besides me, it would be pretty cool if someone came out with Storm Chasing Video game. So when days are bad just do some chasing on the ps2 lol

any comments?

 

[Anela Hamilton]

Kinda like the NASCAR games at the arcade where you can sit inside of the vehicle and feel the affects? Sounds cool!! 8)

 

[Mickey Ptak]

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It's funny you bring that up. The other day I was talking to a chaser friend about a video game. If I were a game programmer I would dang sure create one. I would like it to be based of real chase scenarios as such..

1.)The user would create a forecast and pick a target.

2.)Options to check and select all their gear before taking off.

3.)Having to deal with gas, wind, wet roads, and all the other elements of a chase.

4.)The game could support the tech chaser and the instinct chaser

5.)For the high tech chaser the user could have mobile Internet (e.g. cell phone, WiFi) for radar and such, GPS, hams and other radios at their disposal.

6.)For the instinct chasers you use options 1 and 3 and go totally visual.

The ideas are endless…

Any of you game programmers? My arithmetic skills are not up to par for game programming so I have to stick with business applications.

Mick

 

[Scott Freeman]

Funny you should mention that..
I am working on one. Its in the conceptual phase now. But the hardest thing to figure out is the engine that going to drive the game. Graphics would be no problem... but the actual coding and the physics behing getting stors to form, and getting the code for one to spawn a tornado,,and the other not to.. that will be a challenge..
But i am working on a Chasing game....
if you wanna know what the basics of it will be, shoot me an email..

 

[Larry J. Kosch]

A DVD-based game

I think it would work if this was a DVD-based game.

That way when the game starts out you can "see" the maps, the forecasts and the target site. You then get to pick out the gears you want to take along, etc. As the game moves along you will encounter different situations, like do you wait for the dryline to move forward or go after the first storms that fires up? Finally you are rewarded with videos of a tornado with your name in the credit line. And your video will be shown on the CNN evening news. Or you can crash & burn or get sucked up in the tornado. The evening news will broadcast your funeral!!

You could play "historical" tornadoes like the 1999 F-5 OK City Tornado or have the computer generate a random storm situation. You can have a online gaming situation where chasers on different computers can participate as a team or compete with each other.

You can set up a second DVD that will work like a "Storm Chaser" tutorial, teaching potential new chasers how to have a safe storm chase, have safety rules, etc. And a third DVD will have videos of historical tornadoes and chasers' logs, etc.

I can almost envision David Drummond being used as a "SIM" model as he explains what the storm chasers are seeing. He can also be used as a "Ask the Storm Chaser God" model too.

If anybody can put together a decent board game, pretty much like a "LIFE" game or a DVD-based game like CSI: Crime Investigation for storm chasing, that person will make a fortune and retire before the age of 35.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I did a board game with a friend once.. not chasing, obviously, but something along the lines (in terms of creation).. I think a video game would be fun as hell! I have a buddy of mine in Florida whom I went to school with who graduated from DeVry and is going into computer animation and knows a few people that do video game stuff.. I'll drop a line to him for yucks and grins!

 

[David Young]

Ignoring the dangers of targeting a small niche market, let's look at the technical requirements. A game like this would require three main components:

1. 3-D atmospheric simulation engine
2. 3-D driving simulation engine
3. Really frickin' huge map/terrain database

Everything else would depend on these three. #2 exists already in many commercial games, although you'd want to do a considerable amount of tweaking to get it to interact properly with #1. #3 is simply a question of how large you want your map to be and in how much detail. #1...well, good luck with that!

Of course, it's all got to look really, really good, so you'll need slick graphics code tying all of this together. Storm chasing's payoff is almost entirely visual - how many people chase storms solely for the way they sound? - and you certainly wouldn't want the game's payoff to consist of the same piece of tornado footage again and again. Without sounding too pessimistic (I hope), I just don't think it's possible to produce something like this at this time. (Besides, would you really want to spend fourteen hours in front of your PC on a virtual bust chase?)

 

[mikedeason]

I'm not sure that such a game would have to be a real-time/semi real-time 3-D, animated game. Even a turn based game (15 minute increments) based on several dozens or scores of actual chases (and which could be expanded over time) would make for not only an interesting and fun game, but one that would be educational as well. Heck, you could even make it a multiplayer games by allowing participants to begin their chases from different locales and formulate a point system based such things as how close they are to the area of initial convective development.

To further this concept a little and make it a little more realistic, it could be along the lines of a dual strategic (forecasting, planning routes, target areas, etc. within the boundaries of a time limit, say 5 minutes real time equals 15 minutes game tim) and tactical (real time, in situ intercept as storms begin to fire) game.

Regards,

Mike

 

[Doug Lee]

Years ago I played Flight Simulator on a friend's PC. If you screwed up, a sneering image of Chuck Yeager would pop up with a sarcastic caption such as "Nice auger job!" or "I don't know you, do I?" A storm chasing game ought to folow this by having Chuck Doswell pop up in a similar fashion!
:shock: :twisted: :lol: :smilebox:

 

[David Draun]

The game should have an SDS meter going as well. If you have too many busted chases, bad target forecasting, missed tornadoes it fills up and you go insane and get comitted. Game over, man! You can lower the SDS level with just the opposite, Get under those storms, capture the 'nadoes!

Bonus points for core-punching the Bear Cage of an HP monster, and surviving. :lol: :lol:

 

[Tony Laubach]

I like the idea of missions.. kind of like SimCity4's U-Drive-Its..

You may have to get a probe into a tornado..

Or.. drive the TANK into a tornado to get a measurment..

Or.. outrun a tornado into a town in which the sirens had failed in order to warn people to seek shelter..

Also, earn upgrades to your vehicles and equipment for various things..

Hmm.. the ideas are rolling now!

 

[mikedeason]

What about moral dilemnas?

Do I continue to film or do I go to the farmstead that just got hit, where people MAY or MAY NOT be home, and assist with locating and assisting victims?

The more the ideas come out, the more interesting this game sounds.

Regards,

Mike

 

[nickgrillo]

and try to get through the game without smashing into any of those evil "yahoo" chasers that block the road and drive like maniacs! :lol:

Maybe a part of the game could also be called "catch the stupid spotter"... if you catch a spotter reporting a tornado when it's just scud clouds... throw a net over him and get points. :lol:

 

[mikedeason]

Starting to sound like a Pythonesque game....

...Cool!

Regards,

Mike

 

[Larry J. Kosch]

Some games have tornado options

I remembered playing a SIM Farm game in which I would buy land, set up farm crops, raise livestock, etc.

One of the interesting options is that I get to tweak the weather settings. After I worked long hours getting my farm set up the way I want it to work, I would turn on the "Tornado" setting. Then I sit back and watch a sinister little tornado snake its way across my farm, tearing up crops, knocking down fences, buildings not to mention carrying livestock thru the air (MOOO). Then I have to round up my loose livestock, fix the fences and replant the crops, etc.

You can do the same thing in a SIM City game too. I even had Lincoln, NE go thru a bad earthquake one time. Didn't look too pretty...

 

[Shane Adams]

Difficulty levels, consisting of real-world situations:

Beginner: Unlimited funding/time
Novice: Unlimited funding/limited time frame
Advanced: Limited funding/time frame
Veteran: $3000/60 days for the entire YEAR
Expert: $1000/10 days for the entire YEAR


The idea is that the less time/money you have to work with, the better your forecasts and chases have to be; you'd better make everyone count when you've got 20% of the resources as many other chasers. This would force players to use more scrutiny when deciding whether to chase or stay home on a given day, depending on the situation.

Basically, if you suck, you need all the chase days you can get. If you're a badass, you can be thrown a handful of opportunities and come home with lots of trophies :wink:

Also, the game must contain a ton of memory because several different scenarios have to be a part of the program; there must be a virtually endless conbination of scenarios that can play out wx-wise to prevent players from "mastering the game" and essentially "beating" it. It must be realistic in the sense that, even the most experienced, most successful chasers still bust some days and don't know why.

A 3000 CAPE with a breakable cap in good supercell winds and ideal surface conditions cannot yield the same wx everytime, and so on.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

Re: Some games have tornado options

and try to get through the game without smashing into any of those evil "yahoo" chasers that block the road and drive like maniacs! :lol:

Would we get points for hitting "so called chasers" on the road? :twisted:

You can do the same thing in a SIM City game too. I even had Lincoln, NE go thru a bad earthquake one time. Didn't look too pretty...

SimCity 4 has an awesome new disaster... a wicked CG strike. It is funny watching all the little Sims run away screaming LOL.

 

[JR Hehnly]

List of video/pinball games with 'storm', 'chaser', or 'tornado' in the name.
From Killer List of Video Games

Alien Storm
Avengers In Galactic Storm
Blazing Tornado
BloodStorm
Cyberstorm
Galactic Storm
Geo Storm
Grid Seeker: Project Storm Hammer
Grind Stormer
Gulf Storm
Hotdog Storm
LED Storm
Progear Storm Of Progia
Ray Storm
Space Chaser
Storm
Storm Blade
Storming Party
Stormy
Tornado
Tornado Baseball
Varth: Operation Thunderstorm
Violent Storm[/b]

 

[David Draun]

Boy, this thing is starting to snowball.

We also should remember that the less WX-savvy should be able to enjoy the game as well. A difficulty where sounding data is not necessary would be good, though I don't know how that could be done. There could be a training level that basically instructs what to look for as far as sounding data goes. However high CAPE/low shear and low CAPE/high shear situations would need to be included.

Different game modes would be cool too.

Lightning: Go to high lightning areas like FL, and SW monsoon and get pictures.

Hurricane chasing: A CAT 5 storm named "Fluffy" :lol: :wink: is striking, get footage of it tearing sh*t up!

 

[Bryce Stone]

This isn't QUITE a video game, but at the casino at exit 200 off I-40 in Oklahoma (the Mystic Winds Casino) they have a casino machine titled Storm Chaser. It is similar to all their other machines, but the symbols include a tornado, a storm chaser in a jeep, a video camera, a GPS navigator, etc. You win by getting a storm chaser and a tornado symbol on the screen at the same time (or several tornadoes). It is a really good looking machine, but they won't let you take pictures in there, so I can't post a pic. If you gamble and chase, this is definately the machine to play.

On the subject of the video game, if you got a good concept and presented it to major companies, I'm sure they'd go for it because it's a unique concept. There is little innovation in the video game market, and new concepts are usually appreciated. Or, of course, one could release it without going through a studio, but the audience would be somewhat more limited. Did you know, by the way, that it costs something in the millions now for a major game studio to package and release a new video game???

 

[Tony Laubach]

This isn't QUITE a video game, but at the casino at exit 200 off I-40 in Oklahoma (the Mystic Winds Casino) they have a casino machine titled Storm Chaser.

They have a couple of them in Casinos in Blackhawk, CO. I've played (and lost) many times! :lol:

 

[Thomas Loades]

I saw a Twister pinball machine, once . . . I forget where you got all the points, but I think there was something that lit up with "F5" on it, unsurprisingly . . .

 

[JR Hehnly]

I saw a Twister pinball machine, once . . . I forget where you got all the points, but I think there was something that lit up with "F5" on it, unsurprisingly . . .

Sure enough! Search for 'twister' gave:
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter...=&game_id=10240
http://hippie.net/pinball/twister/
http://www.planetkc.com/maven/MyGames.htm
http://www.perfectamusements.com/Pinball/p.../p90twister.htm

I need one of these!!!
One sold on Ebay for $1600:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=6109282257

 

[John Gnuechtel]

Digital Atmosphere could certainly benefit from a GameBoy Advance port.

 

[Geoff Boyle]

I'd be cool if there was a multiplayer chaser game. Though, I wonder how many people would be blocking roads, parking under overpasses and punching the core all the time. It would be funny to see 5 or 6 online chasers punch the core of a storm at the same time.

The main thing i'd be concerned about, is if a kid (who knows nothing about weather, let alone driving) runs through a string of us in his bullet proof Hummer.