The Gamer's Quarter

[Ketch]

The GTA:SA and Chrono-Trigger articles had me pondering what it would take to make a game which was more biased towards being an experience than a 'game', from the GTA:SA article it would allow you complete freedom(liberty?) to approach any situation in the game with the tools you can find, ie. not setting you explicit MISSIONS with certain weapons to use (unless it had to).

No, the 'game' part would be far more *natural/organic* much of the gameplay would seem to arise out of the simulation of the world, IE. if you needed to have a few fight sequences, you might find some rats in your barn attacking your crops so you would be able to send in your 'NInja-Cat' robot (which you actively control) to clean them out. But likewise, you could just hire an exterminator for a few more bucks and avoid having to fight them if you wished to.

Like Chrono-Trigger, the main character in the game would actually be the world, or the part of the world that the main character is living in. I.e boisterous lively slum? Snooty socialite part of town? -where your neighbours are really concerned with keeping up appearances / you can play keeping up with the Joneses. Tranquil farming community / gossipy village where everyone is cheating on each other? Smoggy urban zones.

Like Animal Crossing there would be different seasons that would bring in new sights and sounds and gameplay and a new feel to familiar areas, ie. there would be seasonal flowers that grow only in spring / summer, autumn would bring a beautiful covering of tan leaves on the ground, the tropical island would have cherry blossom(like) trees bringing a magical effect to the area. Likewise, the new plants and animals would open up different aspects of the "game" ie. new more valuable plants would grow in spring etc.

It would be like Animal Crossing + Harvest Moon (without the routine) meets GTA (without the gangsters).