A place for you to offer up your ideas for new games and existing franchises. There's a lot of passion here for games and a lot of talent so why not share?

I'll start us off with my idea for a Prince of Persia reboot.

Prince of Persia 

EXT: a lush, Arabian palace in summer. Vast and intricate gardens stretch out to infinity; mazes, fountains, exotic trees and animals adorn the opulent gardens, hedges are obscenely twisted into sad looking parodies of ferocious animals. As we swoop through the scenery, large birds languidly beat themselves into the sky whilst the smaller fry, twitter and frolic in the brush. 

The central palace is massive, comprised of vast, fat domes and gleaming ornate minarets. As we drink in the opulence, we turn away from the exterior and enter a window.

INT: a small bird in a gigantic ornate cage twitters busily against its bars. A long dining table is at the centre of one of the palace's many lavish dining rooms. A mother and son sit  at either end, many meters apart. The table is festooned with exotic treats yet both mother and son seem to have no appetite. Completed puzzled sit beside the boys meal. He stares longingly at the dancing birds through the cage by his window. Courtiers stand like statues as both mother and son slowly eat. 

Ismail's Mother
Ismail, eat your food darling. The trials are this afternoon and your father will want to see your progress. You want to grow up to be big and strong like his highness, do you not?

Ismail 
Yes, mother.

Ismail pushes his plate aside and picks out a pomegranate from a nearby fruit bowl. He opens it and stares again at the caged bird. 

CUT: A ROOM IN THE PALACE: the prince is being dressed to receive his father. Ismail's mother and three courtiers all attend to the prince's complex outfit as the boy stares nervously ahead. 

CUT: OUTSIDE THE CHAMBER OF TRIALS: With his mother behind him, Ismail waits outside two massive and ornate doors. A fanfare plays and the doors open to reveal one of the Sultan's chambers.

INT: THE CHAMBER OF TRIALS: The chamber is beautiful and vast. Ismail and his mother, accompanied by swirling majestic music, slowly make their way towards the sultan. Guards and courtiers line their route. The sultan, a powerfully heavy and serious looking man awaits them; regal, aloof and expressionless. The sultan's mother, a hatchet faced sour looking hag veiled in black, sits behind the sultan, we can just make out her face which wears a permanent look of disgust. Behind her sit six gargantuan sand hour glasses: one is empty, one is nearly empty and four others have varying levels of sand within them.

The Sultan
Ismail, Prince of Persia.

Ismail 
Your highness, exulted one.


The Sultan
It is...pleasing to see you grown. Are you ready to to take the trials?

Ismail
I am ready, father.

The sultan's aides bristle at Ismail's over-familiarity with his highness. The sultan raises his hands slightly to silence them. 

Ismail 
I beg your forgiveness. I am ready to take the trails, your highness, exulted one. 

Sated and with a sly, amused grin, the Sultan nods slightly and his aides begin preparing the space for Ismail's trials. Giant golden tomes are brought out and ink and quills are prepared. Ismail's mother begins the laborious task of stripping Ismail's outfit down to it bare minimum; light silken trousers and slippers. As she does this, she is afforded one brief, clandestine moment to converse with her nervous son. 

Ismail 
Mother, I...I am afraid. 

Ismail's Mother
There is nothing to fear my son. This moment has been fixed since your birth. You have been trained, you have practiced.

Ismail 
But...I...

Ismail's Mother 
What is it my son? Quickly now.

Ismail 
What if I fail...the empire will fall I will disgrace his lordship. I will break the break in line of leaders that has endured for hundreds of...

Ismail's Mother (interrupting)
Calm yourself, my son. You are a sensitive soul aren't you. Worry not. You are but 14 years and should you fail today I'm sure you will be given another chance. Have faith my little bird. This...think of this... as one of your games, my love. Above all else: let your heart be your guide. 

Ismail nods to his mother and stands alone in front of his father. 


The Sultan
The leader of this great empire must excel in matters of intellect, guile and strength. You will undertake the trials to test your worthiness to sit in the highest seat. 

The Sultan lifts himself heavily from his throne and, flanked all the while by his fussy aides, he walks over to a raised ornamental plinth to the left of the throne. He takes off one of his rings and places it into an ornate bowl before returning to his throne. 

The Sultan
The first trial will test your guile and agility. Retrieve this ring.

The vast space in of the chamber is transformed. The ornate plinth shoots up into the air as columns erupt from the floor to form a path/assault course to the ring (i.e. the games movement/agility tutorial)

Ismail retrieves the ring to his mother's delight and his grandmother's sour indifference. The aides note down Ismail's performance in one of the huge golden tomes. The chamber 'resets' itself and, bowing reverently, Ismail presents his father with his ring.

The Sultan
Well done Ismail. You may keep the ring.

The grandmother snorts in disapproval yet the Sultan need only to turn his head but fraction towards her, for her to be cowed into silence. 

Ismail 
Thank you, your highness exulted one. 

The sultan nods in approval. 

The Sultan
The second trial will test your intelligence.

Statues depicting an earthworm, a fish, a bear, a lion, a hunter, a king are wheeled out (A classic block puzzle). Ismail is to arrange the statutes in the correct order according to a cryptic riddle. "Wisdom grows from a true understanding of the order of things " (the order is as above but to be arranged in a circle : the fish may eat/kill the worm, the bear will kill the fish, the lion may kill the bear, the hunter may kill the lion, the king may kill the hunter yet the worm will feast upon the king)

Upon completion of the task the aides again furiously make notes regarding Ismail's performance. 

        The Sultan
Excellent my boy. Now, if I were to ask you which of these statues you wish to possess. What would be your answer?


Ismail
The worm, your highness exulted one.

The Sultan (quickly)
And why is that little one?

Ismail
As a reminder of the order of things my lord. As a reminder of the fleeting preciousness of this life and our place within the world.

The Sultan
Excellent, my boy. We are raised high, yet our fate is no different from that of the common man or the simplest beast. Send the statue to the boy's quarters.

Aides rush at the request as The Sultan turns his head towards his mother. He wears a slightly smug look that expects dissent, yet he receives none; she silently glowers in the darkness. The sultan turns back toward Ismail. 

The Sultan
The final test is the test you fighting prowess, wisdom on guile are fine attributes that will serve you well but nature teaches us that it is the brute, who commonly prevails. 

The aides remove the remaining statutes and create ring of fire in the chamber. Ismail is given wooden sword as one of the sultan's guards steps forward, similarly armed.  (Fighting tutorial). It is clear that Ismail's blows are not particularly  powerful yet he counters and parries with skill and guile. He eventually bests his lumbering and exhausted opponent. 

The sultan stands and claps and the aides follow suit with enthusiasm. Suddenly a piercing, cawing shriek fills the air. The grandmother rises from her seat and shuffles slowly forward. The sultan bows down to hear his mother's rasping words. She then shuffles slowly back towards her seat. The sultan remains motionless for a moment with his back towards Ismail. Ismail eyes his mother with confusion, she stares with burning hatred at the sultan's mother. 

The sultan slowly sits back down on the throne. He looks perturbed and ponderous. He leans forward and inspects his son carefully.

CUT: we see through the sultan's eyes that he is examining Ismail's thin, spindly arms and legs.

The sultan whispers to one of his aides who runs off into an adjacent chamber. 

The Sultan
Her highness, has...as is her right, requested an additional test of strength.

The assorted aides cannot control themselves and a profusion of whispering breaks out. For the first time, since we have met him, the sultan shows his power.


The Sultan (bellowing)
Silence!

The ring of fire is extinguished and the beaten guard leaves (though not before bowing and smiling at his adversary). The aides return from the adjacent chamber carrying two large shimmering golden jugs of water; they place them on either side of Ismail.

The Sultan 
Prince of Persia, to pass the test of strength and secure your place as my successor, you must simply lift both of these vessels of water from the floor. 

Ismail looks to his mother who stares crestfallen into her own lap. Ismail reaches down and grabs both handles firmly; his father looks on, seemingly emotionless. Ismail cannot even raise them off the ground. He strains and struggles, veins pop out from his forehead and tears form in his eyes yet the jugs will not move. The sultan walks down the steps towards Ismail, kneels and gently takes his son's hands off the jugs' handles. 

The Sultan
You have failed the test of strength. 

The aides in charge of the golden tomes close their books and leave the chamber. The aides and guards file out after them. Only the sultan his mother, Ismail and his mother remain in the vast room. 

Ismail (ashamed/ distraught)
I...am sorry...father.

Ismail's Mother
Perhaps next year your highness the boy will be stronger.

CUT: From the behind the sultan's throne, the grandmother knocks with her bony hand on the nearly empty "hourglass", before shuffling off into the darkness. 

The Sultan (to Ismail) 
Go with your mother now.

Ismail's mother
No! No! You cannot....

The Sultan (enraged and indignant)
I cannot? I cannot?

Ismail's mother (withdrawing into herself/remembering her place)
I beg your forgiveness your highness exulted one. 

The sultan holds Ismail's face in his hands and kisses him tenderly on the forehead before standing and walking purposefully out of the room. Ismail's mother breaks down in uncontrollable sobbing before running from the chamber. Ismail is left alone. 


Story 
The story is about Ismail's right of passage into manhood and leadership. After apparently disappointing everyone by failing the trial of strength in his coming of age ceremony, Ismail's position becomes precarious. Unbeknownst to Ismail, he is but one of six sons (each one represented by the gigantic hourglasses). The successor to the throne must pass all three trials before his fifteenth birthday if he is to succeed the sultan: Ismail's time has just run out. 

After failing the trial, the royal family tree is to be "pruned", and tradition dictates that he must be put to the sword. However, when the castle is attacked by mysterious men clad in black, Ismail must fight to survive to protect the very family that seeks to kill him. Upon seeing his mother dragged from their royal chambers by terrifying, anonymous masked guards, Ismail initially and incorrectly assumes that the palace has been invaded. He escapes and sets out to save his mother and father from the marauders, oblivious to the reality of his situation. 

The palace's defences (the classic Prince of Persia traps) are activated and the prince is hunted by the masked guards. When Ismail stumbles across one of his half-brothers taking the trials (and failing at the trial of intelligence) he discovers the truth about his family; he has five brothers who have been living alongside him though in different sections of the vast palace. Each one has been raised, trained and educated with his own mother in isolation, oblivious to each others' existence. The reality of his situation dawns on him. 

Ismail must save his mother and confront his father. In the process he meets and battles with each of his brothers, finds help from a benevolent guard and learns the mystery behind the empty hourglass that preceded his own: the existence of his older sister.  

As the prince ascends the tower fighting guards, fighting the palace's deadly defences and fighting his own sense of betrayal, he eventually comes face to face with his father at the highest point in the palace. With the tip of his sword at the sultan's throat, Ismail must make a choice to spare his father's life or to slay him. Despite his hardships and apparent betrayal, Ismail spares his father and the truth is finally revealed: the entire game was an elaborate trial to test Ismail. His father reveals to Ismail by reaching him and surviving the palace he has demonstrated the most important attributes a leader requires: bravery, the will to act and most importantly, forgiveness and compassion. His mother and (the now kindly depicted) grandmother, step forwards to embrace their new leader, his slain "brothers" return and bow like proud actors. Ismail lifts his grandmother from the ground and spins her around in joyful triumph as the family applauds his efforts.

Rationale 
This reboot would seek to reconnect The Prince of Persia series' with its epic Saturday morning cinema, swashbuckling roots. Essentially a story about growing up and becoming a man, Ismail (which means 'fulfilment of a divine promise') is essentially the victim of a elaborate hoax yet the emotions and lessons he experiences along the way are very real. Ismail has spent his entire life in a golden cage and whilst he understands the gravity and danger of his quest, he is also thrilled to have the opportunity to 'stretch his wings'.

Each of Ismail's 'brothers' would be thoroughly unlikable, each one exemplifying one of the  major sins in Islam (taken from the book of Al Kaba'ir); gambling, oppression, pride and arrogance, practicing magic, believing in fortune tellers and murder.



To preserve the tone of the game and the concept of its trials as a series of lessons, early on in the game, Ismail is given aid by the guard he bested in his trial. The guard gives him a blade that whilst completely blunt, is apparently no less lethal. The guard explains that the magical, shimmering blade causes instant death to those who are struck by it (it is revealed at the end of the game that it actually causes the victim to fall into a deep, death-like sleep). Therefore throughout the game, Ismail demonstrates his bravery and willingness to take action to protect his family, without actually killing anyone.