The Flock

Vastet's picture

A new game is starting to make the rounds in the media, and it is unique.

The first interesting thing to note is that once a sufficient number of players has been killed, the game ceases to exist. The concept has never been attempted before, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. I could write a whole article on this concept alone. The one thing I will predict is that if the game becomes a hit, someone won't let it die.

The gameplay is also unique. The world is inhabited by The Flock, monstrous hunting creatures (you). The objective is to acquire the light artifact. Acquiring the light artifact, however, is only the beginning. The beam of light will destroy any Flock that moves, but it makes you slow and easy to find. It makes you the prey.

http://www.vogelsap.com/theflock/

http://theflock.gamepedia.com/The_Flock_Wiki

I'd be very interested in giving this game a try. It sounds fun. And freaky, like Doom was back in 1994. Only worse, because it's people hunting you. Not an easily confused AI that knows as much about strategy as a rock.

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.

digitalbeachbum's picture

Yeah it reminds me of Doom

Yeah it reminds me of Doom and a few mods on various FPS which I've played over the years. The big exception is that it is it appears to be a larger number of players.

If I played I would prefer to be the hunters.

 

 

Beyond Saving's picture

 Cool idea, kind of like a

 Cool idea, kind of like a gigantic capture the flag game. I suppose if the concept is popular, it wouldn't be too difficult to just change the skin and start a new game. After the initial purchase, you could charge a smaller add-on fee or maybe a monthly subscription for each new game that starts. I remember a long time ago, MSN Zone had a WW2 Flight Simulator that was one of the first MMO games and your rank was based on the ratio of kills you had vs the number of times you were killed, with extra weight based on the ranks of the people you killed. They would have massive wars of the Allies vs. the Axis that would drag on for weeks, as soon as one ended, they would start a new one. During the hay day they would have 3 or 4 major wars going at a given time (I think it capped out at like 100 people or something per room at a time- pretty impressive at a time when most had dial up modems). Other than Rainbow Six, it was my main online addiction.  

If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X

digitalbeachbum's picture

Beyond Saving wrote:  Cool

Beyond Saving wrote:

 Cool idea, kind of like a gigantic capture the flag game. I suppose if the concept is popular, it wouldn't be too difficult to just change the skin and start a new game. After the initial purchase, you could charge a smaller add-on fee or maybe a monthly subscription for each new game that starts. I remember a long time ago, MSN Zone had a WW2 Flight Simulator that was one of the first MMO games and your rank was based on the ratio of kills you had vs the number of times you were killed, with extra weight based on the ranks of the people you killed. They would have massive wars of the Allies vs. the Axis that would drag on for weeks, as soon as one ended, they would start a new one. During the hay day they would have 3 or 4 major wars going at a given time (I think it capped out at like 100 people or something per room at a time- pretty impressive at a time when most had dial up modems). Other than Rainbow Six, it was my main online addiction.  

It's more like "kill the man with the flag". There was a Doom mod like that where one person would have the flag and the would glow through walls and be completely visible to every one else. They carried a weapon but no one else had any weapons. Then there was a timer which kept track of how long you carried the flag. You couldn't stay in one area because ammo would run out and spawn in another location. If you lost the flag you got sent to a jail for x number of minutes. If you got lucky enough to pick up the flag it would teleport you away from the "flock" to safety. You'd get a weapon and ammo then it started all over again.

I wish that more games would be like that because it reminds me of the old days with "high score" rankings on arcade games. Every month the game would reset to give others a chance to get in on the action. I believe games get old and stale, like WoW, where people keep grinding to get special armor and specific level. Eventually you get bored because you are almost a god.