How would a Mistborn video game work?

[LevenThumps]

Wow. That is a very detailed description of what you would like the game to be.

[Thought]

Like others in this thread, I think the Mistborn series would most easily translate into a videogame. Partially this is because the magic system is the simplest, actually, and Sanderson has stated he intentionally tried to create a system that would allow for very cinematic effects. The fact that this game is actually being made sort of helps give a vote weight, of course.

Now, one might wonder why I said that allomancy is simple. Well, take a look at the skills. The general concepts of each have been done in other games already (force push v steelpush, for example), so the key is just tweaking things to fit Scadrial.

Part of what makes allomancy so interesting is that it is limited. In many other games, magic seems dumbed down. There is so much that magic is supposed to be able to do that is entirely outside of the player's possibility. Since allomancy is limited, the player can do everything (or at least a very close semblance of everything).

Since there's been a lot of talk of mistborn "flight," I suppose that would be a good place to start explaining why this would be easy. In the books this is usually presented as something that Vin and Kelsier barely have to think about: likewise in the game, make it a passive skill. As long as the mistborn is around a lot of metal, they can "fly" in a bobbing sort of manner. Double-jump would be a standard way of activating this, with a button devoted to increasing altitude/speed and the other devoted to decrease these. All in all, the programming behind mistcloaks would probably be harder for the developers to figure out.

For pushes and pulls in general, have the PC get flung about a little, and then have them learn a counterbalance passive skill so that the game keeps them in place as long as there is a legitimate anchor nearby. Tin? That's straight forward: have it increase the brightness of the screen, and the loudness of the noises (not any background music). When it is dark, that is useful as it makes details easier to see. But, when it is light, it is problematic since details start to get washed out. The game Eternal Darkness did basically this same things nearly a decade ago with some of its sanity effects.

Atium would be really easy to implement: the burner's attacks always hit, and they always dodge incoming attacks. If used against another PC burning atium, they both always miss the other. Again, the visual effects would probably be harder to get right than the mechanics.

Gold, of course, should be added. Have it split the screen, with the normal PC's avatar being replaced by a "poor" and a "rich" version of him or herself (or, possibly, a good and evil version). I doubt that there would be a real in game purpose, although I suppose this might be the key, somehow, to accessing certain secret areas that aren't actually relevant to the game.

[Triumvirate]

^That has some merit... While I'd like to think you would have direct control over Iron/Steel, as a player that might turn out a bit overwhelming. Something similar to the (PS2) Spiderman's web-slinging ability (basically able to go all over town; however, the game had to be able to find a building or something to connect to), except in reverse (pushing off metal) sounds like it would both make sense and be intuitive.

Next poster up... Wow. Rather impressive.

[Triumvirate]

INB4 Prophecy fulfilled:

http://brandonsanderson.com/blog/1067/Announcing-the-Mistborn-Video-Game

"Rejoice! Again I say, re-joice!"

[Inevitable]

I think the Way of Kings would work well as an RTS in the mould of the Total War series. Players can choose one of the High Princes to play as and either fight the Parshendi, or other High Princes (a little creative license for more interesting gameplay). Each High Prince has its own specialities, such as Dalinar having stronger Heavy Infantry, and Sadeas moving about the map faster (due to Bridge Crews).

I thought of an open world style RPG for Elantris, employing the Aon rune drawing. Players assign chosen runes to hotkeys (or buttons. I'm a PC player myself). When they use a rune, the player character draws it in the air. Upgrade the rune for added effects, which cause it to take longer, or upgrade the player's speed at drawing it. Could work even better on the DS, with the player actually drawing the rune themselves. The hotkey option is still there, but the player can pause the game and draw one themselves. Depending on how accurate it is, the player drawn rune can be much stronger than the hotkeyed one.

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The thing with Sanderson's magic systems is they suit computer games unbelievably well. The limitations are all clearly spelled out. The magic is simple to grasp, yet vast in effects.

I've not touched Mistborn, since it's actually in development, and been discussed a lot already. But the only series that wouldn't translate well is the more vague Warbreaker. The magic system there seems far less understood. Also it'd be impossible to implement that ability to see all the shades of a colour.

[Pathfinder]

I would love to see a Mistborn game, but I feel it would be very difficult. How would a player chose which metals they are using/flaring? How would they control pushes and pulls on metal to fly through the city? Mistborn aren't Spider-man after all. A Stormlight Archive game I feel would be much more feasible. There is already a PSP game in existence where the main character changes what direction gravity is for herself. Programming powers for illusion (lightweavers), skating (edgedancers), transformation (lightweavers/elsecallers), teleportation (elsecallers), and regrowth (edgedancers, truthwatchers) wouldn't be difficult at all. In fact I hope a stormlight archive game would come out first for this reason, to potentially draw a following, and thereby studios would invest further to come up with a way to employ the mistborn powers in the mistborn game that would hopefully come afterwards. 

[Shaggai]

I would love to see a Mistborn game, but I feel it would be very difficult. How would a player chose which metals they are using/flaring? How would they control pushes and pulls on metal to fly through the city? Mistborn aren't Spider-man after all. A Stormlight Archive game I feel would be much more feasible. There is already a PSP game in existence where the main character changes what direction gravity is for herself. Programming powers for illusion (lightweavers), skating (edgedancers), transformation (lightweavers/elsecallers), teleportation (elsecallers), and regrowth (edgedancers, truthwatchers) wouldn't be difficult at all. In fact I hope a stormlight archive game would come out first for this reason, to potentially draw a following, and thereby studios would invest further to come up with a way to employ the mistborn powers in the mistborn game that would hopefully come afterwards.

It would be pretty easy to select metals, but the whole "pushes/pulls" thing would be difficult. The good thing about Stormlight is that it could be a variety of genres: An RTS, an Assassin's Creed-style game, even grand strategy. On the other hand, a lot of choices/interactions in the Stormlight game would result in a screen saying, in large red type, "RAFO".

[the Gleeman]

So the creators for the games should be as follows:

 

• Bioware or Ubisoft for Mistborn RPG
• Blizzard for Stormlight RTS
• Insomniac Games or Naughty Dog for Stormlight RPG
• Eidos Montreal or Irrational Games for Elantris RPG  

[Observer]

I won't rehash old metals for the tenth time, so I'll just go on to the much overlooked Zinc and Brass. I feel they've got potential outside of just conversational mechanics, though their main use will certainly be there. A pause-and-select based system on anybody within line of sight wouldn't be that hard, though coming up with ways to make NPCs react would be. For this I'd recommend only having a handful of targetable emotions, like boredom or anger, to allow for stealth missions or combat rioting. Something from countless stealth games called the suspicion meter could be employed, though unlike most of them an NPC that noticed itself being rioted will do what they can do inform somebody. In pure gameplay terms, this means that you've been detected and that you have to kill somebody before your "quest" is considered failed.

 

Being nobility means that Copper shouldn't be a problem. Inquisitors aren't going to kill you for using allomancy, they already know you're allowed to have it. For the most part, this will be left on outside of when you need Bronze or when you're out of the stuff. Atium, as many have said (I know, I'm rehashing like I said I wouldn't), would max out your hit chance and crit chance, but would basically do nothing but negate these bonuses in other Atium burners. Odds are it'll also lead to a lot of cutscene slaughter. For steel, you'd just need the autojump, and ability to select and push on lone bits of metal, and a general outward shove. 

 

Honestly I'm getting really excited for this even though I know it's not coming for ages. I should really stop now.

[Pathfinder]

You could make a mini game out of emotional allomancy. Like as you said have a meter, but you have to balance how much you riot or soothe with the responses you give. Just would need to be careful the mini game doesn't become pointless (certain convos in deus ex the human revolution) or repetitive (the hacking in the first bioshock)

[MistLord]

Does the hack-lines of the profiler from the new game Watch Dogs remind anyone of external physical allomancy? I was so readily reminded of it that I even thought one time ​"Why doesn't Aiden just take out his phone to find the gun...? Hang on, oh..."

[Pathfinder]

That is an awesome thought. Perhaps if there were less lines, and whatever one was "selected" glowed significantly brighter we could have a push/pull flight going. I use Xbox so maybe the buttons be A and B for push and pull and you just have to make sure to be pointed in the right direction. Only problem is pushing behind you as you fly......hmmm.